NICC Art History

[sharacota]

Week 15 Response

The question is, is censorship in art/entertainment required? This has been a topic discussed for some time now. People have their own beliefs on whether or not censorship should be required. There is something  called the Communications Decency Act it just states that unconstitutional censorship schemes on the internet, accurately described by a federal judge as “the most participatory form of mass speech yet developed.” There is also something to be considered when you cannot control one person’s imagination and how they think, and in our first amendment, it states we have the right to free press and free speech. I believe there should be a happy medium when it comes to when censorship is needed and when it is not.

I do not think ideas and concepts by artists is dangerous. I believe the only way an idea and or a concept thought up by an artist could be considered dangerous is if the person who disagrees with it is scared of the idea of it. I believe the imagination of our artists is important because they think of things in a different perspective then the normal person. That is the beauty of art they can discuss hard topic that people do not want to discuss but instead they can view and think of what the artist is saying.

I think in the future censorship will become less strict. I believe it has already come a long way from in the 1900’s until now. I think that it will become even more relaxed. I am not saying that censorship will disappear, but it might not be used as much as it was in the past and how it is used today.

[sharacota]

Romantic Period

The piece of art I have pick for the topic of the Romanic Period is known as Moonrise over the sea. German painter Caspar David Friedrich created this piece in 1822. This painting is the idealism of a romantic seascape. Through the readings of this week, I learned and viewed lot of art from the Romantic period. The Romantic era was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe that began in the 1700’s but, the era did not peak until the 1800’s to 1890. Some of the well-known artist of this time consisted of William Blake, Francisco Goya, and the artist of the piece of work I chose Caspar David Friedrich.

               The artwork I picked known as Moonrise by the Sea, I truly thought was beautiful. Just looking at the picture was what caught my eye you can tell through this oil painting that Caspar David Friedrich was a truly gifted artist. I really enjoyed how well the artist balanced his colors from the dark contrast colors located at the bottom to blending them so well as the painting goes from the ground up to the light colors of the moonrise. I also enjoyed the details that were put into this painting from the sails on the boats to the hat on the man, and the hair on the two women sitting on the boulder. After I admired the work itself, I then could start imagining what was going on in the painting. I believe this paintings story consists of three young people and at that time, they did not have a care in the world. All they cared about at that time was watching the moonrise and watching the two sailing vessels in the water. I did a little more research on this particular painting, and it turns out that it is believed to be the view from the Baltic Sea. This is thought because the Baltic Sea is near Friedrich’s birthplace.

               I did not find any historical meaning behind this painting, but I did find out why this painting was one of Friedrich’s favorites. This painting was a favorite because it was reflected light in the night sky he enjoyed this because the water surface would begin to glow, and he thought this was taking up the light from heaven. He enjoyed this because of the way the light would play and how the colors complemented each other. He described this painting as being moved by the wonder of nature, three people sitting on rounded rocks and two sailing ships pursue a ghostly course across the sea. His true meaning he was portraying through this piece of art was showing that the moon was a symbol of hope.

               The big pieces of this piece of artwork that I enjoyed the most are the moonrise for all of the wonderful colors it portrays. I also enjoy the sailing vessels that are in the sea. I just feel like they belong there, and the painting would not be complete without them. I also enjoy the detail that he put on the three people it just shows how talented he truly was as an artist.

[sharacota]

Week 11

​My initial thoughts one Ai Weiwei’s artwork was amazement. I was amazed over all the different pieces and types of artwork he had created. Weiwei created artwork that spoke to people; he always had a story that was being told through his artwork. In the documentary, it was said the Weiwei is one of the prolific and provocative artists of our time. I enjoyed that when he does his artwork and it involves popular topics he does not just keep it to concepts from China he makes it universal like the human rights and government. I really enjoyed that he is known for created most of his work out of wood and marble it makes his work look very modern. ​I believe that Weiwei work does constitute as art and activism. I believe this because he is taking the topics that he is fighting for and creating them into magnificent pieces of artwork. His masterpieces tell the story that he is trying to tell the world so I do not see why it would not constitute as both art and activism. One of his pieces of art that shows this is known as “Standing Figure,” this is also better known as when Ai weiwei infamous Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn. This was when it was suggested by the new generation in China that it would be good to get rid of these things because they represented the old society that the “new China” wanted to leave behind. Weiwei dropping the Urn showed how ridiculous he thought this was which eventually gave the work new meaning. ​Let me first define fine art, fine art is creative art, especially visual art whose products are to be appreciated or solely for their imaginative, aesthetic, or intellectual content. I believe his artwork is fine art for many reasons. One, I believe his artwork has everything that fine art is supposed to be! Weiwei’s artwork is appreciated for his imagination, how aesthetic he is, and how he uses his intellectual content. He uses his imagination to dream up his amazing artwork then he uses his unique aesthetic to put his spin on what is trying to portray, and finally he uses his amazing intellectual skills to put real meaning into his work that can make more people understand the story he is telling through his work! ​I believe the topic of individual freedom is necessary in some places of the World, but not all that being said it is a good reminder on to always be grateful for the freedom you do have because some people do not have it as good as we do. In the United States, freedom is not taken lightly because I know that there are other countries that do not live in a democracy and do not have the luxury of freedom. Therefore, the topic of individual freedom is definitely needed it just depends on where you are in the world so you can adjust to the group you are speaking to. ​Weiwei is a very interesting artist! This week it was fun to learn about an artist who creates artwork using the basics art and intertwining activism into his work as well. I enjoyed that most if not all of his work had meaning behind it; I feel this made looking at his artwork that much more enjoyable.

[sharacota]

Week 10 Blog Post

Some ways I have been trying to pass my time has been with watching the sixteenth season of Grey’s Anatomy. I have no desire to become a doctor but this show really intrigues me. I have also been passing time with sewing things. I have ripped one of my favorite black skirts before all of this craziness started, and I finally had the opportunity to fix it! I also am trying to stay positive through this all by continuing to fill out scholarship applications in the excitement of going to Iowa State in the fall. I also started to decorate my graduation cap, which is keeping me hopeful on getting to return to finish my last semester of high school and get to enjoy my graduation commencement. Through this time, I still aspire to bring happiness to the world. With this time, I feel like some people’s world turns dark. I feel like with the rule of social distancing is making people sad because they lost the ability to see the world, see there people, and live their lives as they once did. If we can bring happiness to not only ourselves but to others in the world, we can make the world a better place. I aspire to make people days just a little easier and better. I believe that we will overcome this virus by following the suggestions from our government. I believe with practicing social distancing and staying home except for our essential workers, we can overcome this virus. If we give our doctors and scientist time to come up with a vaccine we can all be protected from this in the future. I also think we will overcome this virus when we get into the warmer months because it is proven the viruses and diseases die off in the heat. I have no advice for you my fellow classmates, but I will leave you with this. Please be smart in everything you are doing during these uncertain times. Please stay healthy during this time!

[sharacota]

Week 8 Blog Post

The artist I decided to go with was Caravaggio whose full name is Michelangelo Merisi de Caravaggio. The artist I was intrigued by was Caravaggio because of the way his art turned out into the end. I feel Caravaggio used many dark colors and covered deep topic through his art. Another thing I noticed if he was not painting dark and gloomy he was painting portraits of people of the time. The image I chose is called Narcissus. Caravaggio painted it in 1599 and it is being displayed in Galleria Borghese.

The image I thought was very interesting. This image how I preserve it is a young boy looking into a puddle and what is looking back at him is what he looks like as an older version of himself. I think that this painting is one of his lighter pieces of work that is not of someone decapitating someone else. I noticed a lot of his work involved the death of someone. I enjoyed this image because it was very different than most of his other work that he painted.

I believe the story that he was telling through this work was that you have to look and see the bigger picture of what life truly has in store. That you have to see the bigger picture that even though your young you will grow into the person that you want to be. On the other side of this, it could be a man looking in on his past. He could be reminiscing on his youth; maybe what he could have done different with his life, or remembering past memories about life. This artist is very talented in all of his artwork. If you are ever in Rome, Italy and are around the Galleria of Borghese, you can look at this image and see it in person!

[jayemgeexx]

The first image I choose in The Garden of Earthly Delights is from the first panel on the painting. It appears to be God with a male and female. Maybe adam and eve. In the background, you can see an elephant, giraffe, unicorn, and other hybrid creatures. The God is introducing women to man in this setting. I think the God is in this image to show that God created animals and human.  

[sharacota]

Jessica, I also chose this panel. I to thought the male and female shown represents Adam and Eve. I felt this brought a religious aspect to the painting. I also enjoyed the hybrid animals that are located in the back of the painting. I really enjoyed this painting. Great job Jessica and keep up the great work!

[sharacota]

Week 7 Blog Post

My job is to bring into detail on artwork known as The Garden of Earthly Delights. I believe this oil painting is very beautiful and serves as a very strong message. I think this piece of artwork has great balance that shows between all of the panels that it has. It also has very vibrant colors that I believe help to tell the story the artist was telling. I believe that the first panel, which is on my left, is when everything was at peace between animals and humans. I believe the middle panel shows things to be a little more chaotic. I believe this because it shows that there has been development happening on the land with the new buildings. I think it also shows the domestication of animals. I believe this is showing the evolution of humankind with the growing population and the advancement of the technology during the time. The third and final panel is a little more dark and gloomy than the others. I believe this is what the artist thought was going to happen with the rapid change that was occurring. I believe this is when people started turning on each other, and the peace was disrupted.

               Out of these three scenes, I like the first and second panels the best. I think they look the happiest. I know this sounds cliché, and I know not everything in the world is going to be sparkles and rainbows. I would like to keep my world as happy and peaceful as I can. This piece of artwork is known as Bosch’s most complex and enigmatic creations. His view is a little different from what I had thought, but I was not far off of what Bosch thought. We both thought this was representing the change and how humanity would look like in the future.

[berendsr-blog]

week 4

While reading, I honestly did not realize how much the grafitti like art influenced their protests. I know it causes a lot of tension, but I think that having the art done by anonymous groups is a good thing. It keeps certain people out of the light, yet expresses how they feel, and what they support. This is a way to shed light on the growing crisis over there, and something for them to show the world. It allows expression, without giving up the identiy of the individual. Chen stated perfectly in her article, the severity of the need to protest wit the art. There are many problems goin on right now, and this seems to be the only way to get the attention. Expressing the need for certain demands, art is the way to do so, according to her. I will say that the art is big enough to grab the attention of just about anyone. If I were in an area that was not getting their point through, this would for sure be one way that I could see making an expression. Not only would this be very bold, but it would touch hundreds, if not thousands of people. It allows one or groups at that, to share their hopes, dreams, and demands. They do this in hopes to create a movement to change the today, and shape the future.

[lutesm-blog]

I agree great post and understand of how art can make a difference in protest. It is important that more people understand this, if they are not doing something being bold how are there movements and change going to happen? Without art ?

[sharacota]

I really agree with what you had to say about this weeks discussion. I enjoyed reading about the graffiti that they used to express the confrontation through art. One thing I enjoyed in the article is when Chen states she could have turned away and not reported what was happening. She chose to because she knew it was important. Another great post for this week!

[berendsr-blog]

week 4

While reading, I honestly did not realize how much the grafitti like art influenced their protests. I know it causes a lot of tension, but I think that having the art done by anonymous groups is a good thing. It keeps certain people out of the light, yet expresses how they feel, and what they support. This is a way to shed light on the growing crisis over there, and something for them to show the world. It allows expression, without giving up the identiy of the individual. Chen stated perfectly in her article, the severity of the need to protest wit the art. There are many problems goin on right now, and this seems to be the only way to get the attention. Expressing the need for certain demands, art is the way to do so, according to her. I will say that the art is big enough to grab the attention of just about anyone. If I were in an area that was not getting their point through, this would for sure be one way that I could see making an expression. Not only would this be very bold, but it would touch hundreds, if not thousands of people. It allows one or groups at that, to share their hopes, dreams, and demands. They do this in hopes to create a movement to change the today, and shape the future.

[lutesm-blog]

I agree great post and understand of how art can make a difference in protest. It is important that more people understand this, if they are not doing something being bold how are there movements and change going to happen? Without art ?

[sharacota]

I really agree with what you had to say about this weeks discussion. I enjoyed reading about the graffiti that they used to express the confrontation through art. One thing I enjoyed in the article is when Chen states she could have turned away and not reported what was happening. She chose to because she knew it was important. Another great post for this week!

[sharacota]

Week 4 Blog Post

I found this read was very interesting and opened my eyes to a different perspective on this topic. Abby Chen believes that the finest art will come out of this turmoil happening in Hong Kong, and I would have to agree with her. Abby said “This is about being human...” I interpreted this as we are human and someone is going to shine light on this subject through some sort of art! Whether that form of art is painting, writing, or anything you can think of. That is the beauty of art anything can qualify as art. I feel art holds a powerful piece in this confrontation. As I read the article I really found how Abby still captured the images and still took the videos of something horrible when she did not have to! She captured the bad and shined light on the issue happening in Hong Kong. I feel like art in this issue can help shape the way people perceive the topic at hand. Some one who does not agree with what is happening might capture all of the people getting gassed without gas masks, or the image of the 11 year old who was arrested for protesting. They could also capture that they are for what is happening and capture the strong police being used. I feel like art can be used very heavily for the turmoil in Hong Kong, and I think it is just on person opinion on if it is right or wrong and how you want to perceive the information.

[henryr96]

Week 3 blog

Hunters in the Snow by Pieter Bruegel, year 1565. In this painting you can see all the extra details in the minor of details. This painting is an oil painting done on wood as most paintings were done on at this time. There is depth to the painting giving many layers to look at, from the close up hunters to the houses in the back. The bird towards the upper right hand side is soaring towards the mountains as if on its journey home. The looks of the hunters and their dogs you can get a sense that their trip did not produce much to bring home. The foot steps in the snow help iterate the tough traveling through the snow on their way back. If you look closely you can see the rabbit on the back of one hunter, it appears to be their only catch for that trip.

He captures the colors of winter time very well, the color of the ice truly depicts ice that you would skate on in cold winter in Europe. The sky is a lovely winter blue shade, which the ice reflects nicely. The different shading in the painting really bring it to life. How he put in the detail in the middle ground of the painting giving the appearance that there is more there instead of cut and dry sky ground horizon. The path of the ice starts from lower right and flows in a natural appearing pattern for a river, twists and turns heading towards the middle ground.

The reason I picked this painting is because I love the winter. When I googled the options this one came up, it reminded me of how much I enjoy the winter time. The playing in the snow and ice with friends and family, even the fact that there is some type of hockey made me smile. There is much to look at but looking closely there is almost a diagonal line from the hunters to up the mountain. 

[sharacota]

I really enjoyed the piece of art you picked for this week. I think you described the painting very well, and could tell you put a lot of imagination into each detail the painting portrayed. You gave good reasoning for why you picked this particular painting. I enjoyed how you described what the painting was painted on. I think you did a good job this week. A few things I would keep in mind is to cite intext where the information is coming from, and maybe explain more on the Northern Renaissance period that we studied for this week. Overall great job!

[sharacota]

Blog Post #3

These beautiful pieces of work from the creators known as Robert Campin and Jan van Eyck in the 1420’s and the 1430’s. Today this period has become known as the early Northern Renaissance in painting. The term Northern Renaissance in the art world today refers to rapid developments to fine art. The piece of artwork I chose stood out to me because I am a Catholic and I found it very interesting to look at. I enjoyed this piece because of the emphasis on Mary and Baby Jesus. To show emphasis in this painting you can see the contrast in the sand that surrounds Baby Jesus, and I feel this makes your eyes gravitate towards them. It also was a smart idea to put them in the center of the painting because likely it will be the first thing you look at. This painting shows great movement because of the angels in the sky. The artist did a great job to capture the movement of the wings actually fluttering. In this particular painting, I think the colors balance out very nice with each other. Another main point of this piece of art is the Shepard has come to bring gifts and adore the new baby. I chose this piece of art because I am catholic like I said, and when I looked at this painting the memory of sitting in church on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and reading the story of the three Shepard’s was always something I enjoyed. This painting finally put a picture to the wonderful reading I hear every year in church. I think Mary and Baby Jesus and the Shepard’s stand out the most. I believe I think this because I have grown up knowing the story, but if I would not know the meaning behind it I might not be as interested by this piece of art. This painting follows the idea of Northern Renaissance through the realism it portrays, the idealism within the painting like everything belongs together, and nothing looks out of place. According to the reading on the introduction on Northern Renaissance, there has been comments that the flowers in the vase could be a painting on their own for how real it looks! A lot of Northern Renaissance really blossomed when it started appearing in the religious background; as the painting I chose called, Adoration of the Shepard’s, located in the central panel in the Portinari Altarpiece.

[sharacota]

Blog Post #2

Throughout time, everything evolves and everything is continuously changing around us. Whether or not we chose to accept the change is a completely different topic. Our professor has given us a few examples to help is stem off and chose what we think has changed immensely over time. One example that was given is technology. I thought this was something that is always changing. One thing I find interesting is how it goes within our societies and in our individual generations. Like my parents belong to the generation known as Gen X. You can often hear these people expressing their feeling on how they do not know how to operate the developing technology. My generation is known as Gen Z and we are known to be very tech savvy. I find it interesting how most in my generation know how to operate and piece of technology, but most do not know how to change the oil in their own car like my parents do. Technology is not the only thing changing on our earth. One thing that some do not think about that is as big is technology is art. Cimabue was an Italian painter who was very active in the 13th century. He was very influential during because he was the teacher of Giotto, and is known to be the transitional artist between the Medieval and the Renaissance periods according to the reading on howtotalkaboutarthistory.com. Now today anything and everything is considered art it does not just surround painting on a canvas or drawing on a piece of paper. We consider are to be anything that creates something meaningful. Like a welder, welding can be considered a piece of art, or a hairdresser cutting your hair. Now that I have given you examples of things that are evolving in our world let me tell you what I think is evolving and how important it is. I think medicine has evolved immensely over the last hundred years. To get more precise on this topic I think how far they have come with the diagnosis of mental illness. In the last fifteen years they stopped diagnosing these patients as just being crazy, and actually started figuring out what was wrong with so many people. After improving, the diagnoses of millions of people they started to figure out they can treat these people for their illnesses and how to make living a little easier for the people who had issues. According to Dana Cota a nurse who has worked in the area of mental illness and behavioral issues says, “The diagnosis of mental illness and the new medications made to help the patients in the last twenty years is amazing on how far they have come, but there is still so much that can be done for mental illness patients in the future like treatments on how to cure the illness, improving medications, and new hospitalization techniques.” I find it very interesting on how far Homo sapiens have come from cave dwellers discovering tools for the first time until now where everything is always changing. I believe with how everything is evolving our future should be good we just have to keep up to date on everything new!

[faithpalmer01]

Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh has been one of my favorite pieces of art since I was young. To me, this painting is very eye appealing. It includes a beautiful landscape with a village and a starry night of blues that are well blended and given a look of much texture and movement. The dark sky is behind a bright yellow moon and stars. Van Gogh was mainly self taught, which I find intriguing.

[sharacota]

Faith,

I also used this as the piece of art work I enjoy the most! van Gogh is a very well known artist.

[sharacota]

Week One

My favorite work of art is the piece known as The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh. I enjoy this piece because it is very relaxing to look at. You can also tell how much time and talent was needed to make such a wonderful piece of art.