Art Appreciation

[torikricke-blog]

Week Fifteen

This week reading about sound art was one of the most interesting topics we have talked about yet. In my life, I have heard only one other sound art besides what I heard this week. I heard it at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art. The piece was of a person talking and it was about 3 years ago so I don’t remember much, but I do remember thinking I was there with the person as if they were talking to me directly. I find that so cool. It amazes me how throughout this class I have learned about all the different ways you can make art and it really fascinating to me that through sound is one way. I really enjoyed reading the article “An Introduction To Sound Art,” by Robert Worby. I thought how he described sound art was really interesting. He explained that sound is not a “thing” and that things make a sound but sound is nothing. When you are done listening to a sound there is nothing left but the memory of it. That struck out to me a lot because I never thought of it that way. Sound is something we can’t touch it’s just something that we hear and then the memory is left with us when it’s over.

The artist this week Tim Hawkinson was really interesting. I love the sound of rain so I loved his piece Drip. Tim made a drumming machine using buckets and pie tins and many other tools that confuse me. This machine captured random drips of rain and made it into music. The machine was really complex to me anyway because I don’t know how stuff like that works but in the end, it was really cool to see rain turn into music.

One Square Inch of Silence was my favorite piece this week. I really felt like I was there in the Hoh Rain Forest at the Olympic National Park. Silence is something that myself and people all over don’t really have. Us humans are always so busy and always have thoughts running through our mind so we don’t really ever get to enjoy silence and peace. I think the piece is so important because it is trying to get people to listen to the natural sounds of the environment. We really take our environment for granted so listening to this brought awareness to me that it is so important to protect this world and our environment and all the endangered resources. The piece inspires me to do better for the environment and really just listen to the sounds around me and bask in the beautiful world I live in.

The artist I choose this week is Carsten Nicolai. Carsten was born in Chemnitz, Saxony, Germany in 1965 and he is a German musician. He studied architecture and landscape before he got into sound art. Carsten founded the record label Raster-Noton in 1999 and has been pursuing music ever since. My favorite piece by Carsten is Unicolor. Unicolor examines the psychology of color perception. What stuck out to me with this piece was the colors. I loved all the pretty colors and loved how they were always changing. I noticed that as different colors were put on display that my moods changed. I got a different feeling looking at each color and that really surprised me and interested me. An example of this is there were their colors on the screen and at first, they started blinking on and off slowly and I felt calm and relaxed and then they started the speed up and as they speed up I started to feel more anxious and nervous. I find it so interesting that colors can affect you like that. Carsten is defiantly one of the most interesting artists I have ever seen and I think it would be so cool to see Unicolor in person. 

[shaferbailey-blog]

Victoria, your views on this week’s media were very similar to mine!  Our first similarity was Robert Worby’s explanation of sound.  I liked it because he simplified the meaning so someone who hasn’t been exposed to alot of art before this class could understand what sound is.  Secondly, Tim Hawkinson’s piece, Drip, also was very interesting to me because like you, I love the sound of rain.  Thirdly, One Square Inch of Silence was also my favorite part of this week’s material.  Learning about the project really makes me want to protect our silent places that humans don’t appreciate.  

[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.

[cammiecakes-deactivated20180109]

Week 13

Week thirteen is Social Practice. I am starting with the Tania Bruguera’s video segment. I really like that Bruguera brought art to politics. Tatlin’s Whisper was really great. I loved that they let these people’s voices be heard, and  like Tania said there wasn’t the fear of them being arrested. That freedom to talk about your fears or wants for a better world was so great for the artist to do. I really enjoyed listening to Tania’s intelligence in this video, and I love that she uses her voice and art to show people culture and history.

Next I’ll be discussing An Introduction to Relational Aesthetics and Social Practice. I like when the writer of this article interviewed his friends about Relational Aesthetics and Social Practice, he got so many different replies. Some did not care about it, some made it into a joke, and some were actually interesting in the topic. I think this can really go for any art. Some people just like something more than something else, personal preference. I am someone who keeps an open mind, this week was the worst for me. I suppose I was really having trouble seeing Social Practice as art. To me it was more freedom of speech kind of thing, which I never really thought could be art. I agreed with one of the friends he interviewed, “some young art student goes to a party where everyone is having a good time, and starts yelling, “look at us, we’re all art!” and of course makes the party less good, and ruins the art.” The one thing I like about Social Practice was how the community can get involved, I think that was really neat. After researching the writer if the article, Jeriah Hildwine, to see his art, I became aware of terrible things he has done which made it hard for me to continue reading the rest of the article.

Moving onto Relational Aesthetics: The Art of Sociability. I really like how this article really explained the art of Social Practice, it helped me to understand it better. Regardless of how much I like or dislike something, artists, regardless on what kind, have something to say. I think that is important for us to remember. Not all of us agree with the same things, ultimately I think we all are working toward the same goal to having our voices heard.

For my relevant artist I chose Harrell Fletcher, I found his work to resemble Tania Bruguera’s the most. He works a lot with his community and likes to form an experience in a place rather than produce a final object.

I was curious and researched Social Practice art and came across a very strong piece of art. It is called the Myths of Rape by Audrey Chan and Elana Mann. This is something that hits home to me and in light of recent news I thought this would be a good piece to add in this weeks blog. Rape, molestation, sexual assault, is something that makes so many people uncomfortable, but it is something that needs to be talked about. It happens everyday all around the world. I love that they did this piece. I truly hope it opened a lot of peoples eyes. I also provided the link to the video below. I hope you will take a look.

Video link: http://www.audreychan.net/portfolio/myths-of-rape-2012/

[shaferbailey-blog]

Cammie, it was very fun for me to read your opinions on social practice!  From what I read, you and I think a lot in the same way.  It was hard for me to categorize social practice as art.  Like you, it seemed to be more a form of activism or freedom of speech.  I guess we all perceive things in our own way.

Tatlin’s Whisper was a social practice that peaked my interest.  I really liked how people were able to say whatever they wanted, to say what they had bottled up.

[shaferbailey-blog]

Blog Post - Week 13

Hello everyone!  The video and readings this week really made me think a lot.  I found social practice much harder to understand than previous practices we have studied but it also had a lot of meaning and things to dig up and learn about.

The video this week about Tania Bruguera was hard for me to follow and understand.  After watching the video twice, the piece that stood out to me was Tatlin’s Whisper #6.  In this piece, people were given 1 minute to stand on a podium and say whatever they wished.  After a minute they had to get off the stage or were removed by two people who were dressed as soldiers.  Audience members were also given disposable cameras.  I think the meaning of this, besides hearing what people think, is to show how much people bottle up.  One man said,” Why do we need a podium to say what eats up our soul?”  This is a very true statement, not only to Cubans, but to people around the world.  Why do we need a spotlight to say what we think and why aren’t we just comfortable doing so whenever?  I do not know the answer to that question, and probably never will.  It is just the way of our society.

The readings this week and the past couple of week’s readings have been challenging for me to understand.  This is probably because social practice and performances aren’t subjects we discuss a lot compared to drawing and painting. The meaning that helped me most understand the meaning of social art was it is art based on social interaction.  One of the articles had artists describe social practice in non-artistic terms.  My favorite description was by Casey McGonagle.  She said,” Do regular stuff, only it’s art.”

Untitled, by Felix Gonzalez-Torres stood out to me in the article, “Where Art Meets Life.”  In this piece there are 175 pounds of multicolored, wrapped candies.  He invites all the viewers of the piece to take a piece of candy.  After a while, there will be no candy left.  I think this is meant to say, there is only so much of everything.  Eventually, if we aren’t careful, we will run out of resources.  For example, a few years ago my grandparents visited Pompeii in Italy.  At Pompeii there are many lava rocks scattered about, but visitors aren’t allowed to pick them up because if everyone were to take one, future generations wouldn’t be able to see them.

Another social piece I enjoyed reading about was Blue Boar, by Victoria Bradbury.  Bradbury’s 10th great-grandmother was accused of being able to turn into a blue boar during the Salem Witch Trials.  She was eventually beheaded. In this piece, Bradbury has the viewer's face put onto a boar’s face using face recognition software, her point being to put the viewer into the place of her grandmother, to show how it feels to be wrongfully accused of a crime.  I think Victoria’s meaning while creating this piece was to show yourself how you make others feel when you say they did something but they actually didn’t and to try to prevent false accusations from happening to others.

Rirkrit Tiravanija is an artist who has an interesting past, along with some interesting art.  Tiravanija was born in Argentina, and was raised in Thailand, Ethiopia, and Canada.  His art that focuses on social practice is a product of all the different people and cultures he has been in contact throughout his life.  Untitled (free/still) is Tiravanija’s social practice in which he set up a lounge area where he cooked/served rice and curry to the visitors.  Visitors were invited to stay and socialize with other, which was Rirkrit’s point in this piece.  I think he wanted to create an environment that people would be able to feel comfortable to get off their phones and talk to their friends as well as with strangers.  

[santinosantana-blog]

WEEK 12 BLOG

The year was 1980 and I was 4 years old and in Early Learning, which was right before kindergarten, and my class took a trip to see “The Nutcracker on Ice” in Chicago. I remember it like it was yesterday as I sat there mortified at the music which still haunts be to this day as a 41 year old. I hated the costumes which scared me so I don’t remember too much about the performance as I sat there in shock and feared for my life, but that was my first inkling to what performance art is. Janine Antoni’s work was spectacular and is my favorite Art 21 artist so far. I loved the photo of her taking a bath with the cows around her and I thought it was brilliant and fascinating. I also loved when she had a bust made of her out of soap and how she took a bath with it to distort the facial features. That was amazing as well.

           The relevant artist I chose this week was Adrian Piper who was thought to believe she was kicked out of the art world because of her race and sex back in the late 70’s early 80’s. Her work addressed attitudes around racism. I saw her work as extremely interesting, especially in the times we are living in now with racism being in the forefront of America. I chose two pieces of her art work that simply explains how blacks feel at times in the world. I didn’t want to get too political but I was drawn to her story. I saw Bree Newsome’s act as harrowing and courageous. It took guts to climb the flagpole in South Carolina and cut down a flag that has been known in America as a racist symbol BUT to call that art, I would have to disagree. I don’t look at that as art or even in the same category. I see it as being courageous and making a point. She risked her freedom to show that racism will not be tolerated.  Art can be viewed in many, many ways and this course has shown me that and the talents of these artist are amazing to see whether it’s from paintings or from sculptures or from architecture. I have a fond respect for art now more than I had before. I never cared for art or had any intention on learning about art. I knew that great art appreciated in value and it was a form of an investment but I never took the time or had the interest in reading about art or visiting any art galleries. Art has given me a better understanding of how much time and energy the artists put into their craft and the raw emotion that pours out of them with every creation. The world would be very different without art and that makes me appreciate it more. This class has been interesting to say the least but in a good and positive way.

[shaferbailey-blog]

Santana, I totally agree with your views on Bree Newsome and the Confederate flag.  Similar to you, I think Newsome’s act was very courageous.  From what I have heard in the news, the flag has been a large issue for awhile now.  Debates in South Carolina’s state government have been going on for some time.  I’m assuming Newsome was just fed up that nothing was happening, and that is why she did such a risky thing.  Personally, I think this is more of an act of rebellion or of protest rather than a performance.  

[shaferbailey-blog]

Blog Post - Week 12

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

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

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

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

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

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

[bigmayne92-blog]

Blogpost Week 11

Architecture is the art and science of constructing buildings and other physical structures. The artist we learn about in this week’s presentation is Maya Lin. Lin is an American designer and artist who is known for her work in sculpture and land art. In Identity, we quickly see that Lin is very involved in her work. In her case, her “assignment” is a little different because she is required to do certain things with her piece because it is property of the city. Not only does Lin design the piece, she also is brought on as an architect because of her piece’s relations to the surrounding buildings. I love the “pool” that she created because when frozen, it turns into an ice skating circle in which members of the community use as such - as we were able to see.

Frank Owen Gehry, is a Canadian-born American architect, residing in Los Angeles. A number of his buildings, including his private residence, have become world-renowned attractions. From Gehry’s Fish Lamp piece, I can tell why his work has become so notable. His simple “fish lamps” turned out to be quite elegant and an un-ordinary - yet extraordinary - piece to have in a home. I Like the fish lamps and in my opinion, they are elegant and lovely.

[shaferbailey-blog]

Jay, I also really liked Maya Lin’s work.  The skating rink was a great addition to an originally sad park, but it was when Lin put stars under the rink that I really started like her work.  Beyond being an artist/architect, I also liked Maya Lin a lot as a person.  As you said, viewers could tell Lin loved what she was doing and wanted her work to be perfect.  To me, she is the perfect example of someone that loves what they do.

[shaferbailey-blog]

Week 11 - Blog Post

I was excited when I saw the topic of the week was architecture!  Architecture is very interesting to me because it is all around us and is behind a lot of cool things.  Many of the cities I have been fortunate enough to visit are defined by their architecture, a great example being Chicago.  Who doesn’t recognize that iconic skyline?  

The St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow which is pictured in the book (also below) is a beautiful piece of architecture.  The reds and greens along with the onion domes make the building stand out.  I think the cathedral was built to look pompous but also to make citizens of Moscow proud to be Russian, as well as tell a bit of Russian history.  The beautiful domes also were made for the purpose of shedding snow and was intended to look like a candle flame, which I saw after reading that.

Machu Picchu was another architectural wonder that caught my attention.  It is amazing to me that a structure built almost 600 years ago and abandoned for almost 500 years is still standing today, especially because the area that the city was built in has been a victim of numerous earthquakes.  Inca stonemakers painstakingly built the city with perfectly cut stones with only hammers and small crowbars.  Despite all the years, the stone slabs are still fit together very well.  The meaning of Machu Picchu was obviously to be a city, but today I think it shows us that anything is possible and old civilizations weren’t as clueless as we may think they were.

The video about Maya Lin was probably my favorite Art21 video we have watched so far.  My favorite part of her work was how she tried to incorporate nature into her pieces and how everything she did had a point.  The park she updated, for example, incorporated the night sky and had the three liquid states which was meaningful to the name of the city in which it was in, Grand Rapids.  How Maya Lin had everything set up also added meaning to the park.  Yes, the liquid fountain you could only look at, but the gas and solid pieces were more hands on.  Lin said you could walk through the gas/mist fountain and you can obviously skate on the ice skating rink.  A bonus is everything looked awesome when it was done, especially the skating rink that depicted the night sky!  To me, Lin’s point in all of this was firstly, to re purpose a park and make it beautiful again, secondly to make a connection to the cities name, and lastly to help people connect to nature.  If I am ever in Grand Rapids, this would be an awesome place to visit!  The other thing I liked in this video was Maya Lin herself.  She was very down to earth, unlike other artists we have learned about, and she makes clear what the meaning of her work is.

In addition to making very cool looking artwork and architecture, Maya Lin’s work is also environmentally friendly.  In the book, there is a whole section about socially responsible architecture, which means it must be pretty important.  Unfortunately, eco-friendly artwork is not cheap, but some artists like Maya Lin take it upon themselves to make their work eco-friendly.  Lin tries to use recycled materials in her work and her goal is to leave no footprint on the environment.  Towards the end of the video, Lin said she was planning on making a playset for kids entirely out of recycled tires. This is a great idea and it is even more special that it is eco-friendly.

Antoni Gaudi is a Spanish artist that is very famous for his unique catalan modernisme style, especially his architecture all around Spain.  One of Gaudi’s most famous buildings, Casa Batllo (pictured below), caught my eye.  I liked how the edges of the stone aren’t jagged or sharp, they are more fluid and smooth.  The balconies also were a nice addition to the design, as well as the bright patterns on the walls.  Gaudi’s meaning in this piece was to make a very unique structure that also captures a bit of Spanish culture in the designs.

[craftystarlightwombat-blog]

Week 10: Craft

This week’s class about craft reminded me a lot about our week about sculpture. In my opinion, I find them to be very similar. It’s kind of crazy and weird to think that art has so many sub categories. The things I viewed in the chapter this week, such as the stoneware pot with lid or even the White Butte, I would have considered those to be sculptures. However, after doing the reading, I have a better understand of the differences between sculpture and crafts. One of my favorite types of crafts that I read and saw in the chapter this week, were metal works. For instance, the door handle on page 351. Door handles and door knockers are just so unique sometimes, I just really can appreciate those types of work.

The video this week on Kimsooja’s art was not my favorite. I think I wasn’t too fond of her work because I still don’t quite understand what she was getting at. I understand that she was comparing her body to a needle that threads through space and time; and that is why she had the people passing by in slow motion. However, I don’t understand how that was considered to be art. Part of me can kind of understand because it’s almost the same category as music videos, and I think that is art. I just didn’t grab the concept of that particular piece by her. I’m still trying to understand what her obsession is with the whole needle and thread concept because she seems to roll with it a lot.

I got really excited seeing the list of relevant artists this week. I remember a few weeks ago I had mentioned my favorite sculpture that I’ve seen in person was inappropriate. Well, I get to post a picture of it today because the relevant artist I chose this week is Beth Cavener Stichter. I was able to see a few of her pieces in person when I visited the Chazen Art Museum in Madison, WI in spring of 2016. I like her art particularly because it has a huge focus on animals. Without further a du, my favorite piece is A Rush of Blood to the Head. This piece is of two deer like animals making out and each animal has an erection. I would assume that’s the whole reason for the name of the piece. I read a review that someone was shocked that Chazen, being a private museum, would accept “such a piece of work.” When it comes to art, I think people need to have more of an open mind. Art is meant to be expressive and it’s meant to be raw. That’s why I think art museums like this should be for more mature audiences. Don’t bring your children to places that are meant to be quiet and for the intellectuals. A couple other of her pieces that I got to view when I was at Chazen were L’Amante and The Question That Devours. If you ever have a chance to see these pieces in person, I highly recommend it.

[shaferbailey-blog]

Katie, I also agree that the topic of craft includes a lot of what we have already studied.  To me, the difference about craft is it is done by hand, but it also just seems more creative to me.  I think crafters are always looking for something unique and new to try; they want to make something like nobody has ever made before.  Just look at Ahmed Faig’s “liquefying” carpets.  Never have I seen anything similar which is why they drew me in!       

[shaferbailey-blog]

Blog Post Week 10

To me, the reading in the book this week was a combination of a lot of things we have been studying in the past few weeks.  As I read, I felt bad for artists whose work is being looked over because people aren’t looking very far for beautiful art.  They can just go to Target, pick up a mass produced painting or sculpture, and end it at that.  I like many others are guilty of this, but this class is opening my eyes.  Some things, such as quilts and pots, don’t immediately come to my mind when I think of art.  They are more useful than a painting on a wall, as well as more common.  This is why I don’t think they are always thought of when art comes up.

Paula Winokur’s piece, White Butte, was an interesting piece to try to figure out.  After reading what she modeled the piece after, I can for sure see eroded hills.  The slabs covering the whole piece remind me of a city.  To me, this piece shows how something very unique can come out of a normal object.  At first glance, I didn’t think that this piece would take a lot of time to complete but after reading the article that changed.  I never knew how much clay is used in a piece like this, or how long it took all that clay to dry.  That sure is a long process!

The article about Renwick Gallery and it’s exhibit, Wonder, was interesting.  What I have read about craft is it is mostly concerned with function.  From what I read in the article, the pieces in the Wonder exhibit didn’t really connect with each other.  They also didn’t seem very functional or have much meaning.  Plexus A1 (pictured above) is very fun and creative, but is it functional or meaningful and could it be classified as craft?  I think not.  It makes sense that a museum wants to be appealing to visitors and wants to draw people in but to me bringing in pieces of art that aren’t classified as craft ruins the point of a craft museum.  For the better or worse, I think the Renwick Gallery will continue to move away from craft pieces because people are more interested in other pieces more than they are in crafts.

My favorite part of Kimsooja’s bundles was their colorfulness.  The point of these bundles was far beyond the color.  I think the point of these little bundles was to show that even though the outside of something may be beautiful, what is on the inside is the thing that counts but they also show that some people aren’t as fortunate as others.  I think the way the bundles are arranged in Kimsooja’s exhibitions shows how much some people have vs. how little others have because some bundles are larger than others and there are more bundles in one place.  In Kimsooja’s younger years her family moved around a lot.  These bundles also showed that she couldn’t take a lot of things with her when she moved around.  She could only take the most important things.  

Kimsooja’s bundles reminded me of the Persian carpets (above) we read about in the book.  In ancient Persia, these carpets were also used to wrap their possessions while they were traveling.  Persian rugs are extremely intricate, symmetrical, and some can be very large.

Faig Ahmed is an Azerbaijani native that is well known for his re imagination of ancient crafts.  My favorite of his works is Liquid (pictured above).  This piece starts off as a normal Persian rug but then at the bottom it seems to liquefy and run down onto the ground.  I think the meaning of this piece is to look cool, but also modernize and bring attention to ancient crafts.  This rug would be more likely to draw my attention than a traditional Persian rug.                                                     

[maddywaters-blog1]

Week 9 - Installation

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

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

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

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

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

Sources:

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

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

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

[shaferbailey-blog]

Maddy, I didn’t really talk about the similarities between the video and readings besides briefly mentioning a few points, but I think your summary, there are very few similarities, is very true!  To me, the main similarity of the installations in this week’s readings and videos was they were all more hands on and interactive than the usual museum art.  They are also more fun for me to look at.  I think installations can be classified under many different "types" of art, not only installation, because they can be so varied.

[shaferbailey-blog]

Week 9 - Installations

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

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

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

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

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

(with lightning)

(without lightning)

[craftystarlightwombat-blog]

Week 8-Sculptures

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

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

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

[shaferbailey-blog]

Katie, I hadn’t thought about mentioning the U.S. Marine Corps Memorial, but after reading your post I realized how perfectly it fit in this week’s theme.  I also have been fortunate enough to see this memorial in person.  It was very moving because we know this is replicated from a real, important event in our nation’s history.  The sculpture is so detailed and perfectly captures the feelings of triumph that the marines portrayed were feeling.  It is also very meaningful that there is an actual US flag they are sticking into the ground.

[shaferbailey-blog]

Blog Post Week 8

Earthworks were my favorite type of sculpture to learn about this week. I am drawn to these probably because I enjoy nature.  The piece Spiral Jetty (pictured below) on the great salt lake was not made to be permanent, it was made to eventually return to where it came from, the Great Salt Lake.  I think this piece was made to look at and walk onto to appreciate the elements of the Salt Lake.  Effigy Mounds is a national monument near where I live that I visit frequently.  This ties in perfectly to this week's reading as the mounds are earthworks.  They were made thousands of years ago and were made for final resting places for native Americans.  I also think they were made for religious reasons, to honor their Gods.  The point of earthworks is not to preserve them forever, but to enjoy them while they last.  I think museums are starting to realize this as pieces like Strange Fruit have started to go bad, but museums aren’t trying to preserve them chemically.  

This week’s video was one of my favorites so far!  It was very cool for me to see Kara Walker put sweet ingredients into a mold and have them come out to make a sculpture!  The method she used to make the candy babies reminded me of molds I used to make chocolate frogs.  I just put the chocolate into the mold, let it harden, took the frogs out, and boom, I had a chocolate frog.  When I made this treat, the hard part of making the mold was already done.  Kara on the other hand had to make her mold and then pour the ingredients in to make her candy babies.  I also thought it looked fun how Walker coated her sphynx with sugar.  After watching her do this, the meaning of the piece meant a little more to me.  The sphynx has African-American features, but is bleach white, and is in a position that looks beaten down while still looking regal.  This represents the hardships of African-American women while they were slaves.  To top all this off, it is “sugarcoated,” which in our day and age means to make something bad or distasteful look or seem more attractive.  I think this is Kara trying to prove how we try to make slavery sound not as bad as it was in our modern society.

   After reading Art 21’s interview with Kara Walker, I looked at her different silhouette art pieces.  I looked around awhile and felt the piece, the Jubilant Martyrs of Obsolescence and Ruin (below), spoke most to me.  I think this piece depicts a number of scenes from the Civil War.  It depicts battles, slave whippings, and slaves trying to escape.  Even though this piece was made as a silhouette, viewers can still somewhat pick out the slaves from their white masters and soldiers.  I think another reason this was made a silhouette was to make the viewer realize all people in the Civil War era suffered from slavery, whether they were slaves or not.

This week I first watched the video and then read the book.  While reading, I found there are a lot of technical terms that describe the things I was describing.  Kara Walker made maquettes before she made the full size sphynx.  To make the sphynx, she (along with her co-workers) carved pieces of foam.  Walker used casting and molding to make her candy baby sculptures.  Her work was installed in the Domino Sugar Factory and was site-specific because it was designed specifically for the Domino Sugar Factory. 

Petah Coyne uses a lot of organic materials, which is why I thought she would be a good artist to discuss this week, after a lot of this post has been about natural art.  Coyne uses wax covered elements such as ribbons, pearls, trees, taxidermied animals, car parts, black sand and flowers to make her sculptures. These seemingly diverse materials come together to represent how we live alongside our natural world and how interconnected we are. One of Petah’s pieces, Buddha Boy (below), includes many different elements but they all look similar when covered in white wax.  I think this is a very good representation of how we think nature and humans are very different, but when we look a little closer, they aren’t horribly different and I think this is what Petah was trying to tell us with this piece.

[mpalmer21-blog1]

Week Seven

     The reading this week was the most relatable to myself. I love the art of photography and what it enables me to create. My favorite type of photography is digital photography. I love that this enables me to edit my work if I don’t like something. When editing my images, I tend to use the cropping tool the most. I love how through a lens; an object looks different than you notice with just your sight. You notice different details about the object, often finer details. Film photography is now considered out of date by most people. This is an older method of photography. The benefit of film is that if kept in correct conditions the exact image can last forever. If the computer your images are on crashes there is a high risk of the images being lost. Film media was also covered this week. The most amazing thing about film is the images we receive via television. I find it fascinating that our brains translate individual electric signals into one single image. Film has developed probably in what is one of the fastest ways possible for art medias to develop. Film was invented in 1896 and television was invented in 1927. When you think about it, they weren’t invented that many years ago. TV started as a black and white poor quality image and now is high definition with high resolution and color images. Film has developed, having better special effects and having colored images instead of black and white images.

http://nobudge.com/main/thunder-road

     Of the three videos this week, Thunder Road by Jim Cummings (link above), connected to me most. Many of us, when we lose a friend of loved one, feel we have not done enough, and remember all they have done for us. Today, I lost one of the most caring, influential individuals in my life. I feel with the main character Jimmy at this point. Jimmy begins to dwell on his mistakes, apologizing profusely. I believe he is sitting in back because he feels guilty and doesn’t believe he has the right to sit up front with everyone else.

      The relevant artist I decided to touch on this week is Sally Mann. Mann first gained attention through her works featuring landscapes and historical architecture. Mann’s photographic works also consist of images of her children, often nude, that were, and still are, controversial. Mann uses large-format cameras that sometimes have damaged lenses, which she uses to add character to her works. (I used website https://www.artsy.net/artist/sally-mann for this information.)

     Shown above is one of Mann’s works titled Black Eye. This work was created in 1991. I believe this work is trying to convey the innocence of a child. The girl is quiet, trying to be inconspicuous, after she was mistreated by someone or something. She doesn’t really know what happened and has been harmed emotionally. This event will impact the rest of her life. Mann is trying to convey that your actions can have a positive or negative effect on someone, if that damage is visible or if it is not. 

     Below is a link to another of Julia Pott’s films titled My First Crush. This video uses cartoon characters to illustrate different outcomes that can happen when someone has their first crush. Some outcomes are happy and some disappointing. Many people can relate to this video.

[shaferbailey-blog]

Madi, I enjoyed reading your views on Sally Mann’s work.  I also think her work focuses a lot on childhood innocence and what adults in this day and age take for granted.  To me, this girl may be reliving the horror she had recently experienced or having a nightmare about it.  The black and white filter on this photo makes me empathize more with the subject than I would with a picture with no filter.

[shaferbailey-blog]

Week 7 - Photography and Filmmaking

Reading the book this week made me realize what an amazing thing photography/film is and how much we take it for granted.  I enjoyed looking at many of the photographs, but the ones that stood out were the ones in which there was a lot of emotion.  The famous picture Migrant Mother (pictured below) captures a lot of emotion, and the black and white filter accentuates the tone of the piece.  It shows the mother’s pain and worry for the future and for what is to come.  This photograph makes me empathize with the subject and want to help her.  This is why I like photography.  It shows emotion much better than paintings in my opinion, probably because of all the details.  It was interesting for me to see the quality of the photos get better as time progressed.  Taking photos used to take hours but now in just a tenth of a second, you have your picture.  

Films have also improved as time has progressed.  It it hard for me to think about films without all the special effects we have today.  Although we may think films would be boring without special effects, the people who watched the earliest films were amazed by the technology it had taken to produce those films.  Short films can be an awesome tool to spread a message, such as anti-bullying, but like anything, they can be put to a bad use.  A great example of this would be Hitler using films as propaganda.  This was an easy way for him to spread his message to a large group of people and make more people believe in his way.  Although it wasn’t good, I think it was probably very smart of Hitler and the Nazis to take advantage of this, as films can be very moving and make you feel strongly towards a certain cause.

The film, Hot Beach Babe Aims to Please, the computer pointer following the girl reminds me of gnats surrounding a person.  I think the pointers represent beach goers eyes following the girl even though she isn’t really trying to attract attention.  

Thunder Road was very meaningful to me, especially after a tough week in our school. Recently a teacher from our school passed away unexpectedly.  It is extraordinarily hard for us students to deal with this and a lot of the girls in our school were outwardly crying but the boys remained stoic.  I think they feel that they are supposed to remain unemotional, but this film shows it is okay to show emotion, let out your feelings, and get your thoughts off your chest.

At first I found it hard to follow the film, Belly.  I had to re watch the video to fully understand it!  The second time watching, I realized some things are connected, the two llamas at the beginning formed a tick-like thing (pictured below) and when it’s head popped we found out it was on Oscar’s friend.  Also, the really blue ocean with the tents, where Alex got stuck, was the whale’s stomach.  I think the meaning of this video was to prove even though sometimes you help someone, they won’t always be thankful or show their thankfulness.  This was a surprise ending, as films I have watched usually have happy endings.  

The reading and videos had a lot of similarities.  I thought the film Belly had a lot of cuts which could be classified as jump cuts because there isn’t really a connection into the next video segment.  Thunder Road was created using continuity editing which requires that all shots be taken following the “180-degree rule.”  This rule states that the camera may be placed at any angle from the audience’s side, but not from backstage.  None of the films we watched had any political meaning but all the videos had a message and meaning.

This week I was drawn to Sally Mann’s photographs.  They had a lot of meaning, and this meaning was enhanced by the black and white filters on the photos.  I was surprised when I read an article and found our the subjects were her children.  My favorite picture from Sally’s album, Intermediate Family, was the photo of a young girl holding a cigarette (pictured below).  I think this picture depicts how casually some people use something so harmful to their health, the only thing drawing attention in this picture is the young girl.  It also depicts how people surrounding smokers just turn away and don’t say anything even though they know it is bad.

[glitterydonutartisan-blog]

Week Six

John Baldessari- The Art Story

Printmaking is the process of transferring an image from a form onto a different medium.  The original can start from metal, glass, wood, linoleum or other surfaces.  Each printing can have a slightly different result. Intaglio or carving can be used to create the initial images.  Lithography is also a way to transfer the image, but instead of raised surfaces it uses a flat surface.  This method relies on the use of grease which makes the ink stick to the surfaces to create lines and tone.  (I have a litho of Abraham Lincoln dated right after his death.  It is a very intriguing piece.  The best part is we got it at an auction for one dollar.  It was in a box of random stuff.)  Stenciling is another popular medium that is still used today in commercial printing.  Photocopy and fax art are considered mediums as well.  Which is interesting.  Print making can be mixed with other media as well.  It is a versatile medium that is becoming common practice.  Graphic design consist of three elements; Visual ideas, typography and illustration.  It may sound simple but with a fast paced world to be a graphic designer one must always be ahead of the curve when it comes to the latest trends.  The artist has a visual relationship with needs and ideas.  A person does not pay attention to the broad spectrum of typography until you need something printed in a specific typeface.  It can become daunting.  That and putting the proper illustration to the piece along with the typeface to match it as art form.  

As for our artist of the week, I liked him.  I enjoyed his take on art.  “ I say its art and they believe me”.  Has to be one of my favorite quotes so far.  He has a carefree attitude when it comes to his work which I appreciate.  I enjoyed his works with the faces circled out.  When he explains that is what takes away stigma essentially that is attached.  Saying that people are replaceable and it changes the perception of the subject.  His comparison of art and teaching was spot on in my opinion.  I like that he takes images and creates his own art from them. Finding the absurdity of life.  One thing that I took way from him is the fact of looking between the lines. Which can be useful in many aspects of life.  He never set out to become an artist but I’m glad that he did.  I love his interpretations and almost condescendingly snide regards to the art world.  Like his piece that I featured.  It is comical.  Because art is all up for interpretation to the viewer.  I picture him creating this piece telling someone to be quiet, he is “making art”.  

Andy Worhol- Marilyn Monroe

Andy’s and John’s are similar in my view.  I like that he took a photo of Marilyn and transformed the same picture into various different ones just by changing the color.  Each one portrays a different feeling.  The bright ones gives the sense of Marilyn’s bright, loud, fun personality.  The darker ones give the feeling of her inner battles.  The Marilyn the adoring public didn’t see.  It’s the same image but so much more.  Some say that these mirror Christian art depicting the Virgin Mary.  I can see that.  It almost idolizes her to the point of a religious figure.  But Marilyn was one of the first major publicized sex symbols of our time.  Which makes it ironic when comparing it to the Virgin Mary.   Maybe that is the point?   

[shaferbailey-blog]

Michelle, I found it funny that we both really like the piece of John Baldessari’s, The Art Story.  It was very comical to me as well.  I could totally see him saying,”Shhhh, I’m making “art.”  After watching the video about him, that seems to fit his personality!

It amazes me that even though an artist may mean to make two pieces exactly alike, he or she can almost never exactly replicate the original print.  Even in Andy Warhol’s famous Marilyn Monroe pieces, there are microscopic differences that we may not see, but are surely there.