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[shaferbailey-blog]

Week 15 - Sound

 Before reading this week’s material I thought sound was pretty straightforward but after the first paragraph of An Introduction to Sound Art I was blown away!  It never really hit me what a unique thing sound is.  I mean, it is something we cannot see and it couldn’t be saved for the longest time but it is around us all the time.  My favorite composition in this article was John Cage’s 4’33”.  In this piece there were three movements but the performer was silent for all four minutes and 33 seconds of each movement.  The sounds of the audience members filled the auditorium, they becoming the performers.  I think the meaning of this piece was to show how different things are in silence and show that silence isn’t a bad thing.  Cage was probably trying to get audience members to connect more to themselves in all the silence.

One Square Inch of Silence was very interesting to learn about.  After reading the snippet about the project I watched a video (below) that told more about the project.  It shocked me that there are less than a dozen “quiet places” in the lower 48 remaining.  I may be wrong, but I feel as if there are still others that have not been recorded yet, although that number has probably gone down from the time the video was published in 2010. The article/video made me start thinking about the last time I had been in what I consider silence and nothing came to me.  Even when my family hiked at Effigy Mounds, a national park in Iowa that I consider to be very natural and quiet, I recalled that there were still sounds of the closeby highway.  As I went to visit my cousins over Thanksgiving break I found myself listening to see if there was silence, but there usually wasn’t.  It is important to preserve these silent places, but also very challenging.   How can humans try to prevent cities from growing around nature reserves and planes from flying over them?  It is a challenging question that we currently don’t have an answer to.  I think the meaning of this project is to bring awareness to noise pollution along with all kinds of pollution and to inspire people to be a little kinder to the environment.

I thought the nature sounds we listened to were very soothing.  When I am trying to focus, this is the type of thing I listen to!  In my opinion, people record these sounds to help them focus but also to help them remember what nature is like.  Rainy weather is my favorite type of weather and these recordings preserve it so I can enjoy sounds of rain anytime I would like to.

The two pieces by Tim Hawkinson in this week’s video both piqued my interest.  Both pieces were very abstract, but also unique and unlike anything I had ever seen before.  Of the two I have to say Drip was my favorite.  I love the sound of rain!  Due to my poor mechanical skills, I didn’t really understand the mechanics behind the dripping.  The way that Hawkinson rolled up the plastic was a very simple but creative idea.  To me, the plastic looks like it has been wrung out and has been left to finish drip-drying.  I think that was Tim’s plan when making this piece.  The buckets seem to be preserving water and helping to save the environment (the One Square Inch of Silence got me thinking about conservation).  The dripping sounds make me think if one small droplet can make that much of an impact (noise), then how is my usage of a lot more water affecting others that don’t have water and the environment?  Although not the author’s intention, Drip really did make me think about conserving our water.

Haroon Mirza’s installation art has recently become famous from his unique usage of interplay and friction between sound and light waves and electric currents.  One of my favorite pieces of Mirza’s was The National Apavillion of Then and Now.  In this installation viewers go into an “echoless” chamber that has a circle of light that gets brighter when a droning noise in the installation gets louder.  When the droning noise goes away viewers are left in complete darkness.  I think the meaning of this piece is to show how talking and making noise can change something while staying silent can make things worse.

[booklover2460-deactivated201901]

Hey Bailey! I was in the exact same place when I thought about sound as a whole. It was very difficult for me to understand what the writer was getting at in the article “An Introduction to Sound Art”. I really enjoyed listening to your relevant artist as well! I especially enjoyed reading your take on it! Thank you.

[palexie-blog]

I know exactly what you mean when hearing the highway when hiking through Effigy Mounds. Recently, we have been hiking around Yellow River State Park. Personally, I believe that Yellow River is one of the more quiet and peaceful places around the north east Iowa region. There are plenty of places to enjoy the natural silence around Iowa which I love. It is one of my favorite places in America. What I love is how yes, there are some big cities like Des Moines and Iowa City, but true silence and peace can found right here in our backyard in north east Iowa.

[palexie-blog]

Blog Post Week 15

This week in class, we learned about sound art. This is something that I really enjoy, because I would rather listen to something, than just stare at something and try and find a meaning. I really enjoy music, which made this chapter more enjoyable than any other chapter that we have discussed.

Sound art, to me, specifically relates to music. When I or any other listener experiences a song, it can have a thousand different meanings apart from the initial intention of the artist. The art in a song lies with the connection it has with the listener and how that perceived message relates to the listener or audience.

Sound art is less about the party making the sounds and more about the listener. As long as there is someone listening, actively thinking about and analyzing the sound, how it’s made, or the feelings it produces, it can be considered art. As with any other media, there can be no art without an audience. That audience may be a party of one, the artist himself, or any other person, but without thought and consideration, the piece would be just that: a piece, an object. Art cannot be considered art without context by the artist or conceived context on the part of the audience. As said in the article “An introduction to Sound Art” by Robert Worby, “. Listening involves action, we cannot listen and remain passive.” If we simply hear the sample, it would be glazed over, not considered or thought about; therefore, not art.

I really enjoyed the video because it correlated to the article directly. What I mean is, in order to get the full feel of the video of Tim Hawkinson, reading the article would be ideal. When viewing the video, you have to actually listen in order to get the full affect because just by listening, the viewer would not get any key information. The video showed how art can directly be correlated with sound. How sound can be affective, even when it involves a bigger room shown in the video.

The artist that I had chose this week, was Jacob Kirkegaard. The reason that I had chosen Kirkegaard, is because I have already heard of him from Spotify. What I really enjoy about Kirkegaard, is that his music is very good for studying. Kirkegaard really dives into what sound really is. From what I take from his 4 rooms album, is that he really makes you listen and understand the music, rather than just listening. In the article, it talks about understanding/listening vs just listening. Some music, yes, I only listen to it to pass the time or when I am driving to class. But, when listening to Kirkegaard, I really enjoy it when I am going to bed, because that is when I am actually listening for what he is trying to display.

I am going to link one of his albums here in my blog. If you get a chance, take a listen. He really dives into the emotion of the music and makes an amazing album.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKuebjArb3g

[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.

[palexie-blog]

Vogtc,

I also did not enjoy social practice very much. However, I did find the little piece in one of the articles about the coffee snow very interesting. I also did not enjoy the video all too much either. I felt that Bruguera did an okay job in explaining social practice, but I still could not grasp what exactly her connection was to social practice. One other interesting thing I found in the video was when Bruguera was walking around in the suit with nails. I wish I would have done more research in understanding the culture and meaning behind the suit.

Great post!

[palexie-blog]

Blog Post Week 13

In week 13, we discussed and read about social practice and the relational aesthetics in the art realm. There was a great amount of information that found within the articles and videos.

I began my week with the Art 21 video featuring Tania Bruguera. Bruguera did an outstanding job in giving me a better understanding her legacy and how she presents herself in her social practice. What I found really interesting about Bruguera’s video, was the social practices and relational practice she showed. The first being the cops on their horses. It was super interesting how she was able to freeze power with these cops. I believe that gives people first-hand, the feelings that many that have been oppressed have felt in past history.

I also enjoyed her little piece about how propaganda is different than reality. This made sense to me because when I think of propaganda, I think about posters and TV commercials. Both of those things are not reality at all. By her social practices, I believe that she is showing propaganda in way that is not too drastic or meant to hurt anyone. Bruguera is displaying her beliefs through her art and that really stands out to me as an individual.

When reading Relational Aesthetics, one of the quotes that stuck out to me most, was “which rests on the idea that there is no set meaning in a work of art, because its interpretation is constantly changing.” Personally, this is one of the best quotes I have read when it comes to my understanding of art because it makes so much sense. Everyone interrupts art in a different way and that is something that I need to understand when I want to become better at interpreting true art. This quote makes me my understanding of art excel because it reminds me that just because I see something and think it means one thing, does not mean that everyone else viewing the piece will have the same meaning/understanding.

A couple parts from An Introduction to Relational Aesthetics and Social Practice that I really enjoyed, was “coffee snow,” and when they had taken the Chicago artists to the gun range to shoot guns.

Starting with coffee snow, this is a prime example of social practice. When people were shoveling out their parking spots to “claim” them and then placed furniture in their spot, only for the artists to come and sit in these spots, is art in itself. Another example of social practice found in An Introduction to Relational Aesthetics comes from quote that I had found within the text. “The essence of the work lies in the interaction between the audience and the artists.” An example of this, is how the art is not the chef making the food, but the art is serving it to the people or “audience.”

The relevant artist I chose to do this week, was Tim Rollins and K.O.S. I chose to do this relevant artist because the art is inspired by literary texts and current events.

The first piece of art I chose my Rollins and K.O.S. was an interpretation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I chose to do this one because from what I remember, there are many personalities from the text are presented within the art. They chose to do different colors to represent the different people that are displayed throughout the text.

The second piece I chose to do by Tim Rollins and the K.O.S. was on about Huck Finn. I chose this piece because I very much enjoyed a piece that I know all of the background about because that is text that we had studied in high-school. I enjoy how the lines forma symmetry and slash through the paper. From my interpretation of this, they purposely whited out Huck because they wanted to make the piece about Jim’s journey escaping his past life.

[shiannethrondson-blog]

Week 12

I first off want to discuss Janine Antoni, the artist interview for this week. She really caught my attention at even the very beginning of the video. She had that big rope that was created by more than just one person. She saw the rope as a umbilical cord, and how it connects people. First off I’ve never thought of something like that. So different people in her lives came together in this rope in a way. She’s creating a story within her material that she used. For a great example, one of the materials was her dads grandmothers Christmas dress, that was braided in connecting people.  The more I watched the more respect I learned for her. I think her thoughts are deep, and very expressive, and unordinary just like her artwork. I loved the picture that she had gotten of the cow drinking from the bathtub that she was in. Personally, I liked the image without an explanation, to me the cow looked like she was almost trying to give comfort in a way to Antoni. Then she explained how she had been drinking from a cow for most of her life, and how they seemed to switch roles when she was placed in that tub, she was able to give back what that cow had given her. Its mind-blowing, when she spoke of that she gave me a new perspective and I think that’s what art is all about, seeing things from a different perspective.

Now moving on and talking about performance art, I personally think that Bree Newsome’s act of removing the Confederate Flag from the state house was indeed performance art. It stood for what she believed in, and she turned heads, she got people thinking.. Like I said earlier getting people to take a look at something with a different perspective is hard to do, but that’s what Newsome did in this case. Now along with Newsome lets talk about Sonya Clark.  Now this is making a statement, anyone that watches this I don’t think you can say that you cant see in any way or form where shes coming from. She talks about the unraveling of the flag, as reveling the symbol as what the flag means today. She is unraveling the racism that they have gone through, and how it really is a problem. I feel saddened when I watch this, I couldn’t imagine how she’s feeling doing this. I give her all the credit in the world.

The artist I choose to talk about is Marina Abramovic. First of all, she defiantly catches everyone’s eye, and I don’t think anyone can doubt that. She uses herself in her art performance, and she in a way I think challenges her female body. She puts herself in situations where I would assume a lot of people wouldn’t want to be, especially women. For example, a scorpion on ones face, or a snake wrapped around her neck. She is brave, and reminds me of a teen rebelling against their parents, doing the opposite of what they want. To me this is all this that is the opposite that I want around my neck, or even within a few feet of me. I think she is empowering, shows people that they can do anything they please. They just have to get past that fear that they have. Once you get past that fear, you open more doors of almost enjoyment for yourself. Once you let go of that fear, you start living in a sense. I really liked her because she shows just how powerful women can be.

[palexie-blog]

Great post! You and I had very much the same ideas throughout the entire post! I also did enjoy Antoni. I enjoyed her explanation on how she had drunk from the cow her whole life and this piece is her showing her role reversal. I personally found the little clip about Sonya Clark more interesting than the article itself, but I enjoyed both very much. The way I viewed the situation, was that her climbing the pole was kind of the African American people as a whole. When she reached the top after overcoming the climb (like how African Americans have overcome years of discrimination) she takes down the flag. Taking down the flag represents the African American people taking down discrimination in a way. Abramovic is a very interesting person! I really like the piece of her with the snake in her mouth and the connection you made about how it is like a teenager rebelling against their parents.

Once again, awesome post!

[palexie-blog]

Blog Post Week 12

This week we learned about performing art and I was higher interested because we were getting away from the normal painting and sculptures. The first piece of information that I really enjoyed came from the first reading. In Britain, artists such as Gustav Metzger pioneered an approach described as “"AutoDestructive art," in which objects were violently destroyed in public performances that reflected on the Cold War and the threat of nuclear destruction.” I am a visual person so seeing something like this would be very interesting.

The video about Janine Antoni was my favorite part of this week’s material. The reason being that it was my favorite, was because of how show dove into her work and really connected with it, she was the art. She stated something about how she wants people to see her art like a mystery and they have to unravel it to find the meaning like a crime scene. That gives so much of a better understanding of art when I think of it that way. For example, I would really enjoy to really look at each of the pieces of rope she has tied together and find my own meaning to the stories behind them.

The connection that I had made from the videos to the reading and articles, was that of the rope or some type of string. Within the article about Bree Newsome, there was also a little clip about Sonya Clark that I very much enjoyed. I do believe that was an artistic statement and the meaning behind her climbing the pole was the she was overcoming racism and bringing it down. I get the meaning of her climbing the pole is not only her, but all African Americans fighting racism and together they climb to the top, take down the flag along with the racism and history that goes along with it.

The relevant artist I chose to do this week, was Yoko Ono. I chose Ono because I have read about her before in a non-art course, but still found her art style something I very much enjoy. The first piece I chose was one where Ono allowed people to cut pieces of her dress off during an exhibit. I also chose this piece because it is easily one of the most famous artworks connected with performing art. I really enjoyed it because the way people would be hesitant at first, but as the exhibit went on, as did their boundaries on what they were cutting. 

The second piece by Ono I chose to do, was the wishing tree. A little background was that she had strangers write wishes and then put them up in her tree. I very much like this wishing tree exhibit because in a quote she stated that it brought people together as a sense of prayer. Seeing these exhibits and the mini forests of trees is something that I would really want to do. Being able to see the hope on people’s faces as they hang their wish is something that would really mean something to me or an aspiring artist.

[booklover2460-deactivated201901]

Week Eleven Blog Post

When I read that we’d be learning about architecture this week I wasn’t very enthused, to say the least. I guess I’ve never really gotten into looking at a building and saying “Wow, that’s a really nice building!”; but after reading and watching this week’s materials I was a bit more interested in the process of architecture and how it fits into everyday buildings.

In the reading this week I really enjoyed how they brought up that an architect is a civil servant and the fact that it’s not just their visions that they have to consider. With that notion I suppose being an architect could be a difficult job considering that you have to contemplate other people’s opinions and preferences. I guess another factor in this light would be thinking about the use for the building and the amount of space you have to work with. I really enjoyed reading the section called “Socially Responsible Architecture” because it talked about the different ways architects in general can make ecofriendly buildings. In some ways ecofriendly doesn’t always mean affordable and I think that’s another huge responsibility to being an architect, knowing how to incorporate affordability and environmentally conscious buildings.

My choice of relevant artist’s this week was hard because after reading the chapter I still felt like I didn’t have a complete understanding of architecture as a whole but upon looking through the rest of them I found that Andrea Zittel seemed to be the one I could understand the most. I read an article published by the New York Times, on October 30 of this year. The writer was taking a page out of Zittel’s book and exploring the world of solitude in the California desert. Zittel, as an artist, has explored several different aspects of the art world. She used to have a studio in New York where she spent her time making clothing. When she moved to California she let her mind open and started making art with the earth. Instead of moving the earth she placed things above it, such as creative workshops and housing. Zittel owns about 60 acres of land where she tests her ideas and works out on people by letting them stay. In the article it showed a picture of one other experimental living cabins that the writer would be staying in. The picture is below. I just wanted to point out how small the space is. Zittel’s philosophy “I don’t want people to feel uncomfortable, but I don’t want them to be comfortable, either. You know when you’re alone with yourself and you feel jangly and on edge? But in a way it’s the most cathartic thing in the world? Almost painful, but so good.”

This week’s video I found to be truly inspiring because Maya Lin was so young when she became a huge artist. The little park project was one of my favorite parts of the video because it showed that she could turn something so sad and washed up into something beautiful. I also really enjoyed her cat.

[palexie-blog]

Very interesting post! I personally do enjoy architecture, but I understand as to why other people would not be as interested. I also enjoyed your little piece about architects knowing how to incorporate affordability and environmentally conscious buildings. Your quote was very interesting to think about because I had thought that way about art, but after giving it some thought, I totally understand where she could be coming from. My favorite part of the video was also the park. I found the park beautiful and how Lin explained how she wanted to bring the stars down to us, which I felt she did amazingly with her skating rink. Yes, I also very much enjoyed her cat.

Great post!

[palexie-blog]

Week 11 Blog Post

In this week’s chapter, we learned about architecture. I personally am very interesting in architecture because of how little I get to see the types of architecture in this chapter. I am not saying that I do not see architecture every day, but growing up in a small town I do not get to see the architecture that I am more interested in like bigger buildings.

The first piece of architecture that I really enjoyed in this chapter, was Chartres Cathedral in Chartres, France. What I really love about this piece, is how it towers over all of the building around this. I found it very interesting that the reason for this, is because they wanted to give the cathedral a God like presence. To do that, they just made the building tower over all of the surrounding buildings. Another reason I really love this piece, is because it was made during the gothic period, which is one of my favorite art periods to study during this course.

My favorite part or idea from the Maya Lin video was the state she gave about everything she has known about your ideas and turning them into work to explore. That was not the exact phrasing, but it was close. What I enjoy about the phrase, is that she is 100% right. Art is taking your ideas and dreams and turning them into something extraordinary. I also really enjoyed the way she explained space and the water. How she is taking the stars and putting them into the ice.

The relevant artist I chose this week, was Renzo Piano. I chose this first piece by him because it was one that really stuck out to me and made me think. From my perspective, there seems to be two roofs, but the lower roof is kind of sky roof. I do not really enjoy that part of the piece because I do not see a reason the piece above it. However, I do enjoy the layout of everything else. I like the slanting staircase that goes along both sides of the bigger buildings. I also very much enjoy the water and how the reflection of the warm light reflects onto it.

The reason I chose this second piece by Piano, is because of how out of the ordinary it looks. The egg shape really throws me off, but I really do like it. What I really like, is how it seems to be on the corner of a street. What I do not really like about this particular piece, is the metal bars around it. I cannot really tell from the picture whether or not they are metal bars, but either way, they give me the feel of a prison. They make me feel as if someone is stuck inside this egg.

I did learn quite a lot about architecture this week in our readings and video. It will help me in appreciating architecture more when going to bigger cities, or overseas. Some pieces of architecture that I really would enjoy seeing, would be the Chartres Cathedral or Machu Picchu.

[palexie-blog]

Blog Week 10

In this week’s course work, I learned quite a bit about craft. I really enjoyed learning about this chapter, particularly the piece Paula Winokur. I was very interested on how she pieced the clay pieces together instead of doing one big piece. To me, that would make more sense and I feel it looks better. I feel if I were able to piece things together, it gives me more room to work with. If I am not satisfied with a certain part of the piece, I can just take that part out and redo that single spot instead of having to redo the entire work. I personally liked the quote “Despite years of experience, sometimes I still lose things in firing, or sometimes I don’t like the way something looks. Clay does have that element of risk, and you wonder why you keep doing this.” This quote really stuck out to me because it shows me that even though she is an expert with clay, she still loses things and screws up. It basically tells me that yes, it is okay to screw up, as long as you are getting better each time you try. If I were an aspiring artist, this quote is something that I would think about often when working on a piece because it shows that even the best artists are still human and can mess up.

I have always been fascinated by the type of art Kimsooja did in the video. The way she explained that her art is always is in transition really stuck out to me because of how much that makes sense when looking at her art. She is always the same, but everything around her is changing. It was very interesting to find how she knew that she wanted to spend her life doing art. How she stated that when she was younger and how the frost would form on the walls and she would draw on them.

The connection I was thinking about when reading through the article, was how many different types of art that could be included in the Renwick. Everything from paintings to fibers could be included and fit right in with the gallery it is trying to display.

The relevant artist I chose this week, was Nick Cave. I am not a fan of dull art, which makes me like Nick Cave even more. The first piece of work I chose to write about, was one that really gave me a lot of impressions. This piece gives me the impression of how much beauty can be found in the mind of someone. How sometimes people can just explode with creativity when they find something that they are passionate about.

I chose this second piece by Nick Cave simply because I enjoyed the look of it. The feeling I get from this piece, is that of a happier time and more of spiritual time. I can personally see of mix of different animals like a bear, skunk, and possibly a zebra within the soundsuit. What I really enjoy is how colorful it, just like most of Nick Cave’s other pieces of work.

[cammiecakes-deactivated20180109]

Week 9

Week nine we are discussing art installation. This is a term used to describe large-scale art. These can be so large they take up an entire room. The audience gets to decide why the artist did what they did. I think that is pretty cool. For this weeks reading we were asked to discuss the Five Wonders in New York art installation article. The first part was about James Turrell. I found Turrell’s Roden Crater very interesting. This is a large scale artwork inside a volcanic cinder cone. This is incredible and a bit eerie. It really made me think of an underground nuke bunker, yet way more modern. It is literally out in the middle of nowhere. This piece of art has become one with earth, which is pretty neat. His use of light and shapes, is really quite beautiful. Instead of adding a photo for this piece, I added a link so you can see every room. http://rodencrater.com/spaces/all/

Imran Qureshi’s And How Many Rains Must Fall Before the Stains Are Washed Clean is haunting and disturbing. His work in general shows how much death and blood shed happens around us everyday. Seeing this kind of work in front of you really makes me think how much we need to change as a human race. So many innocent people have lost their lives. I think we ignore too many problems that have and are happening. Qureshi’s work is a reminder of that.

Paul McCarthy’s WS, in all honesty, when I look at it, I get angry. This brings up a lot of negativity for me. I hate seeing those women being objectified surround by lewd, creepy, old men. I don’t think I have had such negative feelings towards an “art piece” before. I am someone who is fighting for sexual abuse survivors and this art work seems to glorify it.

I chose Nancy Holt for my relevant artist this week. Holt is an American artist known for her public sculptures and land art. She began her career as a photographer. Her Sun Tunnels reminded me of a large camera lens pointed towards the sky. You can sit or stand in the to enjoy the nature around you. Her work reminded me of James Turrell’s. Both of their work really centers around nature.

Do Ho Suh video was interesting. I like that he had a mini replica of his childhood house to bring with him where ever he went. We all get home sick and I thought is was pretty smart of him to make something he can set up when he starts to miss his family. Home after all, is where the heart is. I really liked the piece that have a bunch of tiny people holding up the glass you can walk on. I thought it was an interesting approach to public space. When we live in cities, were always in such a hurry and sometimes we forgot about the important things in life. Really, the weight of the world is on our shoulders.

[palexie-blog]

I found your part about Imran Qureshi’s work very interesting. I can see exactly why you had the impression of haunting and disturbed. The blood does its job in giving the feeling of defeated as well as the feeling of death. I also agree on why you would get the negative feeling of Paul McCarthy’s WS. I also have the same feeling of anger when looking at this piece. My favorite part of your blog post this week, was the photograph of the people’s hands holding up the actual people through the glass. I had the feeling of remembering that there are people that we do not really think about that hold the ground below us. I think of maybe construction workers or highway workers. I think of them because they do a lot of the dirty work with sidewalks and highways and do not really get much credit. Great post this week!

[palexie-blog]

Blog Post Week 9

Instillations are very different than the other art forms we have covered in this course. Personally, I have enjoyed my research on instillations are did not realize that these are everywhere, even in my community. I found it very interesting in debating with myself if a piece had been moved, was it still considered art? In my opinion, no, it is not. My thoughts about it would be that when you have a site for a piece, the piece should only work for that setting. I feel the art would be out of place anywhere else.

My video would not load, but I did do some research about Do-Ho Suh. From my understanding and opinion, he can be very personal with his work as well as work with a team very well. I got the feeling that he truly is all about the art and nothing else. He is moved by his art and that is what it should be about. From what I viewed, he has extraordinary instillations by himself as with a team. He has been one of my favorite relevant artists because of how genuine he was about his art. I watched a video on him and one thing that really stuck with me was that he said artists doing instillations should make their instillations as memorable as they can.

My opinion and thoughts of the Serra and GSA case are in my discussion, but I will still explain my thoughts here. I thought it was terrible that the GSA would just tear down the sculpture into pieces and basically just throw it away in a warehouse. If I were an artist, my thoughts would be that I would feel dejected and sad because I had spent that time to create this and found a spot where I believed the piece would be appreciated, then have them tear it down. I believe Suh would have been very upset because one of his stance on his work. There would not be anything memorable if the work created is taken down.

The relevant artist I chose this week, was Robert Irwin. I really enjoy this instillation because of the feelings it brings to me. The first feeling is that of clean. Everything in this instillation is very clean. The glass is see through, the water is beautiful, and the trees are a perfect green. I also feel the white room can represent sand of a beach.

The second piece that I chose by Robert Irwin gives me a very somber feeling. I also get the feeling that this instillation represents something of the future by the patters on the walls. I really like this piece because there is more than just white light going on. I can see in between the lights very well and see the grey. The lights make the grey darker in between the light.

My opinion of understanding art has not changed. I am having a terrible time really getting myself interested. I do not know if it is the way the textbook reads or how the blogs are set up, but I am trying to find my niche.

[palexie-blog]

Blog Post Week 8

My reflection of the reading this week is that I found a lot of the information very informative. I never really made the connection as to how much work is put into sculptures. Yes, I understand that they would take time to do, but I never thought they had to be so precise with the scaling and carving. What I found most interesting was casting. I strongly liked the process of casting and even did further research on the process. I strongly liked the sculpture of Perseus with the Head of Medusa. The casting is beautifully done and the detail to the body and head. I also really enjoyed Palma, the sculpture made out of steel found around wherever. I find that very interesting because of how people take random things from the streets and anywhere and turn them into sculptures or whatever else art they decide to craft.

The video and text connect by how they both o through the process of sculpting. I really enjoyed how Kara Walker stated how she does sculptures about history. There are a lot of famous sculptures based around historic figures or historic event. Kara Walker does an amazing job on her sculptures and her work has definitely have been one of the highlights of the course so far. Another idea that I really like about Walker, is that she seems more down to earth than the other artists we have seen. I feel more of a personal connection with Walker than I have with past artists. I believe it is the way that she carries herself in her work and the way she presents herself. She also does more upscale sculptures which leads into my relevant artist for the week, Anish Kapoor. Both of their sculptures really pop out to me and make me appreciate the art more because I strongly like their work more than others.

The first sculpture that I chose to do by Anish Kapoor is one that I have physically seen in person. Cloud Gate is one of my favorite pieces of art of all time because of the mirror affect it gives off from any angle a viewer may be looking at it. Cloud Gate gives a different view of Chicago by distorting the skyline on the bean shaped piece.

The second piece of work I chose by Anish Kapoor, was Sky Mirror. I really like this piece because of how the mirror is reflecting the skyscraper upside down from the sky. I also get the feeling that it also shows the relationship that artists may have. Artists see things very differently than I do, and that is what I get through this certain piece of art. When I look into a mirror, I see straight on, but When looking at this mirror, I am seeing upside down, how many artists see.

My understanding for art has improved this week with video, relevant artist, and text this week. I was very surprised with how the content was presented and how interesting it was. Nothing this week felt boring or kept dragging on. I felt engaged the whole time wanting to give myself a better understanding about sculpting.

[palexie-blog]

Blog Post Week 7

This has been my favorite chapter in the class so far. It has been my favorite chapter because I can find meaning with these kinds of examples showed in the book as well as the videos. Pictures can tell a thousand words, and that is why I am interested in them. I have always been a fan of the process of developing pictures and what it takes for them to turn out the way a photographer would want them. The way that daguerreotype is used in the text really sticks out in Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre’s piece. Since everyone else is moving at a fast rate in the picture, only the shoe-shining person and his customer are pictured.

With the introduction to television, the world was brought into a whole new era of news and all other forms of media. By bringing the television into the home, people could see what was happening first-hand what was happening across the world in Vietnam. The short films we watched for class this week connect directly with television, because they were viewed on some type of screen.

The first video that I watched, was Thunder Road. Thunder Road was easily my favorite out of the four that I had viewed. The reason that Thunder Road stuck out most to me, was because of the actual emotion and meaning behind the short film. Seeing someone struggle in the way that her son was really brought out emotion in myself that I never thought I would take away from this class. Loss and dealing with loss are the central ideas of both short films. However, both are dealt with in different ways. I connected much more with Thunder Road than I did Belly because of how real the situation in Thunder Road can be. I physically can feel the meaning behind Thunder Road. I can feel the loss of a loved and not know how to deal with it, just like the man in the short film did.

In the third video, Hot Beach Babe Aims to Please, the meaning behind the video is easily sexism and click-bate. The video is passing the message that if you have a catchy title that you know people will click, they will not even think twice about the content. It caught my eye how the cursers were over the girl the entire time, making her the object of the video, rather than the waves which, personally, I thought should have been the center point. The video was short, but the message was very clear of what it was trying to pass.

http://nobudge.com/main/losing-it

This week instead of choosing a relevant artist, I chose to watch another short film. I chose to watch Losing It, by Henry Jinings. Losing It has been one of my favorite short films I have seen recently because of the message it displays. I enjoyed how there was always an eerie feeling throughout the film, but a small bit a comic relief in the middle with the awkward pause on the couch. I believe another meaning behind the work is never judge a book by their cover. Yes, this kid seemed to be a nice boy who just wanted to take a girl that he may have liked to the dance, but then I felt he was slowly triggered throughout the film. Overall, the film was well developed with an interestingly eerie feel.

Film and photography get most of my interest when dealing with art because of how new it is to our lifetime. I learned quite a bit about how photos are developed, photos to paintings, as well as how television really sparked the world into another direction.

[torikricke-blog]

Week Six

This week I learned all about printmaking and graphic design. My favorite out of the two is printmaking. I’m all about the look when it comes to art, and I definitely feel more drawn to printmaking. I didn’t know that there were so many categories to printmaking. There is intaglio, which is where the print is engraved into the surface of a plate. There is lithography which is whee the prints are made from one flat surface rather than one that is raised. Then there is my favorite, photocopying. Photocopying is where there are multiple images copied but each a little different whether is the color or if it’s exposed to bright light. I really enjoyed Andy Warhol’s self-portraits shown in chapter 6. I like photocopying the best because I love the idea that is the pictures are one, all of them are connect and the same but yet they aren’t the same. Each photo has something different to it then the next photo. I like the originality behind it and I think it’s very creative.

Graphic design was a very interesting chapter for me to read as well as printmaking. Graphic design is all about visual relationships and providing meaning to a mass of unrelated needs, ideas, words, and pictures. A graphic designer needs to know what sells. Their art is usually aimed at consumers and they have to know what the people what. The featured artist this week John Baldessari doesn’t really follow that. He creates what he thinks is art and doesn’t care if others don’t agree. He likes creating art that most people wouldn’t consider art. I really admire this about him. He has his own way and own path and doesn’t follow society and I think that is really amazing. I also really enjoyed his artwork. I thought It was very creative and loves how he works with the human body. I also love how alive and colorful his art looks. I love how it is not dull and boring, but rather exciting and bright. One of my favorite pieces by him is One Face (Three Versions) with Nose, Ear, and Glasses. I love the colors to it and as I mentioned I really love photocopying so I like how he incorporated some photocopying into is work.

This week I chose Andy Warhol for the featured artist. Andy Warhol was a leading figure in the art movement known as pop art. Andy Warhol really became to come to fame after moving to new york. Besides just art, Warhol engaged in filmmaking and writing. He has don’t some advertising such as Campbell’s soup. Though he has engaged in other these other forms of art, he is most famous for his pop art. He is famous for photocopying famous celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, Michael Jackson, and even John Lennon, a famous member of the Beatles. I loved Andy Warhol’s art. I mentioned before up top of my love for photocopying, and that is really what is specializes in. His art is too bright and colorful. I love how he can turn one picture into four or more other totally unique and different pieces. I hope you can all see the beauty behind his art as well.

[palexie-blog]

Andy Warhol is easily one of my favorite artists of all time. In our apartment, my brother and I have the John Lennon piece that he did. I also find photocopying very interesting and one of the highlights to the chapter. When I think about what kind of art I like, I always think about colorful and vibrant. That is one thing that Warhol really specializes in. I am also more interested in the colorful art because I feel that is the kind of art that I would put in my house later on in life. Great post and keep up the good work!

[palexie-blog]

Blog Post Week 6

This week in chapters 6 and 7, I felt they connected directly with the video. Personally, John Baldessari has a lot to do with the graphic design portion of the chapter. Many of the work Baldessari does looks quite the same to the work done in the chapter. I do not think that Baldessari really has anything to do with chapter six because it is all older print. He is more into the modern type printing which is found in chapter 7.

Other things that I found really interesting about the video how Baldessari stated that he is trying to change people’s minds about art. I like that little piece because that is what I feel this course is trying to change my mind about art. I do not exactly know much about art, but I know that it is hard for me to understanding therefore I cannot get into it.

I also found his work with just black words on white paper. I cannot remember the artist, but earlier in the course one of the relevant artists did the same thing. That kind of art really moves me because there are actual words that I can read and understand the piece.

In the reading, I did find the line engraving kind of interesting. The method is pretty direct. Images being drawn onto a plate of metal such a copper or copper faced with steel. I think I would be interested trying something like that out because I currently work like 3d printing and other types of equipment in a production shop.

Stenciling is easily my favorite form of printing because personally I feel it is the most effective. By being able to stencil, you can take whatever piece you want and make it as perfect as you need with the stencil. Then you can always fill in the stencil after with whatever you want. The stencil gives you a basic overlay on what of you want your piece to look like as a finished product.

The relevant artist that I chose this week, was Xu Bing. I really liked her work because it related to video with Baldessari with the way she uses words and just repeats them or she just uses black wording on the white paper. I do not understand what exactly this piece of work is saying, but to whoever can read will tell what it is saying. Either way both artists are using just simple phrases and words to send the message to the viewers. 

The second piece I chose to do by Xu Bing was one with scattered gibberish words. I really like this painting because it kind of describes my life. Most of the time in my mind, there is just a bunch scrambled thought and words that just run through my head non-stop day and night. I also like how there is kind of break in the middle. That to me, from what I take from the work, is the little light in the middle where there is calm. I also have that right before I fall asleep or when I take the time to sit down and relax.

I would say that my understanding of art has not changed after this week. However, I did find a piece of work that I really like and am going to make my desktop background on my computer. The reading was more interesting this week rather than most week due to me liking more printing type stuff and not just drawing.

[maddywaters-blog1]

Week 5 - Painting

Hello! Thank you for coming to read my blog post. I sort of went on a rant about some of this week’s content so there’s a little more than usual, but I hope that you enjoy!

I found many things in this week’s reading content that connected to last week’s. They both talked about mediums, but last week’s reading talked about the basics about many of the mediums, and this week’s really only mentioned one, painting. One thing that probably interested me the most in this week’s reading was the West African wall painting tradition. The fact that every year after the rainy season they paint liquid clays onto their houses and shrines is amazing. I felt that it would become tiring after a few years, but after learning that the patterns are usually passed down from mother to daughter, I understood. It’s tradition, and it connects them all as a family. These wall paintings make their day a little brighter, and in a special way, too. It would also help other members of the community to know who your family was, for better or for worse.

This week’s video was both very frustrating and interesting to me at the same time. Personally, I think that it is okay to have assistants as long as they aren’t doing the work for her. I mean, you might need some help moving a 21-foot by 85-foot painting. What I don’t agree with, though, is the fact that her assistants are doing the work for her. When reading about The Last Supper (above), the author stated that in the repaintings there was a difference than the original, i.e. the roof beams were in a different place and the people were more three-dimensional looking than earlier paintings. Now, if someone is hired to restore an art piece exactly like how it was painted originally, how do you expect someone working for someone else to make it exactly like they want it? Even if they make one tiny mistake, or change something in one way, they aren’t using Julie Mehretu’s creativity, they’re using their own, too. When one of her assistants was free-handing the spray paint and talking about the work she does and how she developed an “acrylic-based absorbent paper surface, Julie Mehretu wasn’t making it, she was. When she talked about how she went about her art pieces, she used the word “I”, not “we”, besides talking about Mehretu and her boo. That was another thing that really set me off, especially because she gets the credit.

One connection that I found between Julie Mehretu’s artwork, let’s use her piece, Stadia I (above), and an art piece in the book was probably the Tibetan Sand Paintings, one example being the Kalachakra Sand Mandala (below). Both pieces are very busy, and most of the time colorful, but one was easier to understand the meaning than the other. It was much easier for me to understand the Tibetan Sand Paintings in the fact that they were meant for religious and spiritual purposes, to please the spirits in return for transformational effects on the patrons, participants, observers, and surroundings. Julie Mehretu’s work, however, is much harder to understand. I believe that the one reason she has so many assistants hired is the fact that she has so much creativity in her mind she fears she cannot create it fast enough and will soon forget.

The relevant artist that I chose to write about this week is Anoka Faruqee. Anoka Faruqee is an American Painter who creates pieces that have a wave-like feel to them. Her art texture is very smooth, and it often looks like a DVD when you look at it under the light, such as 2013P-68, (below). There always seems to be a flaw among the waves, like a scratch or unwelcomed color. I think that this artwork is very interesting, as this reminds me a lot of when I would look at DVDs at home and there would be scratches on them because little kids decided that they wanted to put the DVDs in themselves (especially because I had three other siblings that were about the same age as me). This artwork is very creative and unique, and I hope that I can sometime learn how to create pieces such as these.

Sources:

http://www.margaret-courtney-clarke.com/african-canvas.html

https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/2006.7

http://anokafaruqee.com/painting/

http://dharmakirtan.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-survey-of-paths-of-tibetan-buddhism.html

https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/1800063

[shaferbailey-blog]

Maddy, I was also somewhat frustrated that Julie had her assistants doing a lot of the work for her.  I also notice how she referred to it as her work, not our work.  While watching the assistants in the video, they seemed to like Julie and weren’t bitter about working for her.  They probably have some kind of arrangement that makes everything fair but it still doesn’t feel quite right.  Your point later that Julie has so much creativity in her mind she needs help to get it out is a very real possibility.

[palexie-blog]

Maddy,

You and I were in the same boat when watching the video. I never really understood as to why Mehrute would want other people doing the work for her. Wouldn’t that the originality out of making it her original work? I can also see how families would get tired after having to repaint their houses year after year. I as well found it super interesting that over the years, all of these famous paintings were really being redone and viewer might only be seeing 20% of the original work. 

Great post.

[palexie-blog]

Blog Post Week 5

This week, we read chapter five about painting. I really like this chapter because again I was reading about art styles and ways to paint that I have already experience in my life. Well, I also like reading about new art styles, but it is easier to read when I already had a base understanding of the material.

A fun little detail about the video that caught my attention was how excited some of the artists were from moving their location from New York, to Berlin. I guess I never thought about how little room they would probably have in New York with how jammed it is. I found it interesting how Mehretu does not try to tell a story in her painting, but to make the viewer feel. To men, when I think of art, I usually connect it with telling a story, but in this case, the idea is different. I also found it interesting that she uses a team rather just doing all the work herself. I like how the video showed her team tracing for her, but the whole time she is guiding them and giving them her vision of what she wants. Overall, I found the video very informative inside the art of Julie Mehretu.

In the reading, I most connected with the direct method—painting directly without a coat. In high school when painting, that is the method we used most. We never really got around to do first coats with the little time we had for the class. Another way of painting I found interesting that was in the reading, was buon fresco. I would not be able to do with method because it stated that it requires very little error and I would make all the errors possible. What caught my eye the most in the reading, was when it stated that we today only see about 20% of the original artist’s work. It makes sense that over time the original work would decay, but I never thought that it would 80%. That idea also reminds me that I need to appreciate original art before it becomes so overworked that it is not original anymore.

The relevant artist I chose this week, is Hiroshi Senju. I chose Senju not only because I found his work interesting, but he is also included in chapter 15. In the reading, it explains how Senju uses a traditional Japanese nihonga technique. The first piece of art I chose to do by Senju, can also be seen in the chapter. I really enjoy this piece because not only is my favorite color blue, but I like the fluorescent feel it gives. Day Falls/Night Falls, like in the name, gives off the feeling that I am looking at a water fall. 

The piece of art I chose by Senju is like the other piece, but in a different color. I chose to do this one along with the other piece because of how this kind of contrasts to the other. I feel the water fall feeling it gives off is going in the other direction, the opposite way. Yet, it still gives off the fluorescent color that makes the piece pop.

I really did get a better understanding of art in this chapter. I was presented a lot of new ideas and facts about art history. There are ideas in here that I will remember throughout the course because I have connected with these ideas on a personal level.