Art Gallery Visit 2

Step 1: The Exhibition

Questions about the exhibit:

1. What is the title of the exhibit?

In the Deep Woods

2. What is the theme of the exhibition?

Sketches of various objects found in nature

Step 2: The Gallery

Questions about the physical space:

1. What type of lighting is used?

The lighting is focused on each painting.  There are 10  items in total. 

2. What colors are used on the walls?

The items are on a cream colored wall.  No other colors are used.  I suspect this is because of its simplistic colors used within the sketches. 

3. What materials are used in the interior artchitecture of the space?

There is only a leather couch. 

4. How is the movement of the viewer through the gallery space?

The sketches are on a semi-circle.  Which invites the viewers to walk around the walkway to each painting.  Also, if a person is sitting on the couch, then they are able to see a wide view of the sketches and they can be seen as a whole. 

Step 3: The Artwork

Questions about the artwork:

1. How are the artworks organized?

They are organized in a horizontal line, as mentioned above, this invites the viewer to walk through the exhibit to see all of the pieces. 

2. How are the artrworks similar?

The pieces have similar content which refers to the title.  Also the medium that is used are the same for every artwork. 

3. How are the artworks different?

Each sketch depicts a different item or subject. 

4. How are the artworks framed?

The artwork is framed with a wooden frame. 

5. How are the artworks identified and labeled?

A few of the pieces have their own plaque which identifies them with a title; however, the majority of the sketches are not lableled. 

6. What is the proximity of the artwork to each other?

They are side by side, perhaps a foot away.  Others are stacked by two. 

Art Criticism: Describing, Analyzing, and Interpreting Artwork

Artist: Charles Burchfeild

Title of work: Insanity

Media:___pencil on paper___________________________________________________________________

Date:__1917___________________________________________________________________________

Size: 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches_________________________________________________________________

Source of picture (URL):Burchfeild Penny Center_______________________________

 Description – Describe what you see.  (subject matter)?

I see what looks like a basic outline of a butterfly. 

Formal analysis – (form)  What principles and elements were used and how are they used?

The use of pattern and balance was used s is seen with the symmetrical form that the butterfly is in.  Although the artists does not define this as a butterfly, the form is similar to the form of a butterfly.  Whether this was to be the intention or not is unknown to me.  The depiction uses pencil, thus the gradient used is very minimal.  The only texture or movement that is seen is the space between the wings, maybe portraying that it is fluttering.  There is an emphasis on the two oval shaped dots near the center of the butterfly. 

Bracketing - Is there anything in or about this work that reminds you of anything else? Do you see any symbols, metaphors, or allegories?  (iconography)

At first, this does not seem to hav any allegorical significance.  On upon further thought this may be a symbol for rebirth or renewal. 

Interpretation - (content)  What do you think the artist was trying to say?

With the words INSANITY written below the butterfly, the artists could be trying to say that though this simple creature is common, what is goes through is complex.  Perhaps that something so simple could be beautiful in its simplicity is perplexing to him. 

Art Criticism: Describing, Analyzing, and Interpreting Artwork

Title of work: Clattering Crows in Spring Woods__________________________________

Media:____________pencil, conte crayon, and ink on paper_______________________________________________________________

Date:________1950_____________________________________________________________________

Size: 10 1/2 x 8 1/8 in. ______________________________________________________

Source of picture (URL): Burchfeild Penny Center_____________________________________________________

 Be receptive -

 Description – Describe what you see.  (subject matter)?

This depicts a forest. There are several crows and broken trees .  There is also a small creek. 

Formal analysis – (form)  What principles and elements were used and how are they used?

The use of simple short strokes of the ink create a sense of rich texture to the picture.  The color that the pencil createsallows for several values to depict different shades within the forest.  The artist uses realistic approaches when it comes to perspective.  There is a balance to the trees and crows in this drawing.  Through the amount of  objects, there is still a sense of organization.  However, the crows are emphasized.

Bracketing - Is there anything in or about this work that reminds you of anything else? Do you see any symbols, metaphors, or allegories?  (iconography)

I do not see any allegorical themes.  The forest and its broken trees may reinforce the idea of renewal and abundance.  The word spring reminds me to look for signs of winter and summer at the same time. 

Interpretation - (content)  What do you think the artist was trying to say?

The only animals that are seen are the crows and for some reason this may be an important animal for the artists.  The depiction may be a review of what he was thinking at the time of creation. 

Art Criticism: Describing, Analyzing, and Interpreting Artwork

 Title of work: ___N/A___________________________________________________

Media:___N/A____________________________________________

Date:__N/A______________________________________________________

Size:__N/A______________________________________________________

Source of picture (URL): Burchfeild Penny Center______________________________

Description – Describe what you see.  (subject matter)?

I do not see any object that is immediately recognizable.  I see swirls and what may look like waves.  There are also small hearts and perhaps some clouds.  

Formal analysis – (form)  What principles and elements were used and how are they used?

The element of lines is imperative for this picture.  Because this is a simple drawing, there is not a huge source of color or organization.  The values that are used may enable the viewer to discern objects like the clouds and waves.  Also there is perceived texture to the drawing that allows the picture to have movement. 

Bracketing - Is there anything in or about this work that reminds you of anything else? Do you see any symbols, metaphors, or allegories?  (iconography) I do not see any symbols or allegorical themes. 

Interpretation - (content)  What do you think the artist was trying to say?

I honestly have no idea what the artists was trying to say.  Since most of his artwork in this exhibit were found in the woods, it may depict the randomness that nature has. 







I thought the Gallery visit was educational.  I looked around Burchfeild and never having been there before, I didn't realize how large it was.  There was also a lot of artwork that was furniture.  They were also setting up for a gallery viewing I think because there was food and bottles of wine strewn about.  

Mask Making

http://s882.photobucket.com/user/monicatedesco002/library/Mask%20Making

Description of each inspirational piece of art are as follows accordingly

This portrait displays use of texture to add complexity to the picture.  This can be seen through the hair and lapel.  Also, the infered angle that she is positioned creates a level of 3 dimensional "ness", which could be used as perspective.  Balance is used to create a harmonious  scale between her head and body.  There is  unity within this piece of art with the use of color and size proportions.  The light blue in the background comlements the striking blue of her jacket which creates a subtle emotion of calmness.  Her demeaner is either neutral or perhaps slightly enthused. 

I mainly chose this portrait because of the striking color that was emplyed.  I think it lends the painting an interesting medium to work with.  Much like looking at a negative photo, the negative space is most clear.  There is seemingly no obvious texture with this photo, but there is still a perceived notion of texture, especially within the hair and clothing.  The shape used is very rudimentary which creates straightforward lines.  I like the simplicity of this piece because the color is enough to be visually interesting.  The use of color is striking, yet there is still balance.  As mentioned before, color and texture was used harmoniously as they are not overwhelming. 

This piece of art was intriguing to me because of its medium that was used.  I believe this was made out of paper machet and the texture that it created is effective in trying to achieve physical texture.  The lines that are present through the medium add the notion of roughness and uncohesiveness.  Through the shape, you can see that this piece is not meticulous in details, its unrealistically life like.  The colors that were employ have the same tone, it’s a muted color theme that works well with her skin tone.  The only emphasis on bright color that was used is the lipstick.  Even the whites of her eyes are slightly crème.  Much of her figure takes up the whole canvas which creates minimal notice to the background.  If there was a rich background, I think that I would be overwhelmed with stimulus.  

African Art

African Art

Art is found

Ornamentation, rituals, tools, statues, masks, and dance

Since the materials used were mostly wood and straw, most objects in meusems are less than 200 years old

Ceremonial african art includes sound, color, and movement

The oldest african art are in dryer climates.

Ancient Bushman paintings, typically represent animals.  Painted on stone were rock art is found

Hunting and gathering persisted until recent times

7000 years ago- African empires flourished and artistic achievement flourished

15th-17th statues most often were of rulers

Gold,wood chairs are also found

Great Zimbabwe had a sophisticated political and economic system

Perceptual-based on the artists observstion of visual reality

Conceptual- based on the artists imagination. Expresses an interior set of ideas

Africa has a rich diversity of art

All african art traditionally played a role in daily life or in ceremonial rights. Many utilitarian objects are decorated with design

Artists werw respected and made art through tradition. An artists could gain local fame, if they were able to produce art in the traditional form better than most other artists

The importance of tradition has enabled historians today to see the artistic stylus of ancient times.

Art was believed to intervene in the actual course of life.

Art was to conjure a spirit

Shamans were ritual experts

African art has a variety of purposes

Dance rituals conveyed myth or serve to awe the participants

I believe the addition of the films add depth to the readings and provide students like me with the chance to have a visual to compare.   

Art logo

1. The main thought I had was "what would be a good representation of me?"
2. Well first I thought of what may be a good logo to describe myself? I created the first sketch of a flower, a tulip.  I had a vision of what the colors might be using the acrylic paints since I had so much interest in the previous project.  My next sketches were of different forms of the flower and for the final painting I chose a closed flower in the color purple.  I added my initials to the painting to better brand myself and to have it be recognizable for others. 
3. The most important discovery I made when making this logo was the decision to choose a flower for my design.  The final painting I created has no defined outlines in the flower and I wanted to represent a kind of ethereal flower.  Much like a flower that you would think of in the Beauty and the Beast. 
4. I think the video: repackaging the brand, was the most interesting video because it takes into account the recognition the brand already has and how that has a major role

Albright Knox Visit

The two most interesting pieces in the gallery were by artists Rene Margritte and Gerhard Richter.  Rene Margritte and his oil on canvas was an interesting concept.  The title Voice of Space (La voix des airs) gives a nod to what this painting may be about but for me without context it was about technology and its unassumability.  The spheres have unidentifiable features except for a uniform band across the widest part of the form.  This reminds me of a mouth.  I think that it was very interesting to look into this painting and discover that these objects are really bells.  Taken out of context, he submerses them into an environment that is uncharacteristic.  The other painting by Gerhard Richter Untitled #418, is an unusual painting as well.  It vaguely reminded me of an unfocused photograph.  In this case, it was extremely interesting to see the way the colors blend in with other colors and creates this uniform texture.  But the painting clearly has dimension and still the medium is relatively smooth.  From the point at which I was standing (as close as possible without getting yelled at) it was difficult to discern where a brush stroke started and finished. 

The paintings Blue Black and Child's Blue Wall were the two paintings that I felt most connected to.  Blue Black created by Sam Francis, depicts a large painting with short brush strokes, introducing the values of blues, blacks, yellows, and red.  This painting does not necessarily have any forms to which it abides by, but it sill has a sense of unity.  This really intrigued me because through the seeming chaos there is still evidence of a thought process to the painting.  Child's Blue Wall created by Jim Dine is the other painting that I felt a connection to.  This painting on initial appearance really took me back to my own younger days when I would endlessly write and paint on my bedroom walls.  I defied my mothers warnings and continued until I was old enough to understand that I was a nuisance.  Jim Dine is also known for his physical art and pop art and we can kind of see this through this painting as well with the toy lamp at the right hand corner.  My sister just had a baby and this painting reflects the probability that the child will continue to grow in endless ways and what she hopes for him is also endless. 

I would love to learn more about the Tune the old crow died gum on canvas.  This was an interesting medium that was used and when I tried to research more about the artist and context, it was difficult to come up with anything substantial.  Another painting that I would like to learn more about is Blue, Yellow, and Red.   Ellsworth Kelly makes important pieces based on basic and bold colors that utilize form and shape.  These painting are extremely simplistic yet still intriguing.

In order of mentioned  

Artist: Rene Margritte

Title: Voice of Space (La voix des airs)

Media: oil on canvas

Scale: 28 5/8 x 21 3/8 inches (72.7 x 54.2 cm)

Year:1931

Artist:Gerhard Richter

Title: Untitled #418

Media: oil on canvas

Scale:89 x 78 1/4"

Year:1977

Artist: Sam Francis

Title: Blue Black

Media: oil on canvas

Scale:119 1/4 x 78 x 2 1/2"" (framed) 

Year: 1952

Artist: Jim Dine

Title: Child's Blue Wall

Media: oil on canvas, wood, metal, light bulb

Scale: 60 x 72 inches (152.4 x 182.9 cm)

Year: 1962

Artist: Dan Colen

Title: Tune the Old Cow Died of

Media: Gum on canvas

Scale: 120 x 95 1/2 inches (304.8 x 242.6 cm)

Year: 2015

Artist: Ellsworth Kelly

Title: Blue, Yellow, Red

Media: acrylic on canvas

Scale: 82 × 189 in. (208.28 × 480.06 cm)

Year: 1965

 http://s882.photobucket.com/user/monicatedesco002/library/ 

Art Making #1

1. The project was fun! It was a little messy; however, it did allow me to become familiar with the primary and secondary colors.
2. I enjoyed the acrylic paints the best.  It was really cool to experiment with mixing the paint and to create the perfect colors for the project.
3. I think I learned that being able to create different values open up new techniques that can be used in art and why they may be important.  For example, values can create the illusion of 3 dimensional objects on canvas or a 2 dimensional medium.  Also values can be used to create optical illusions that are essential to some artists. 
4. The most important fact that I learned from the video was that the primary colors really do have to be specific.  These colors are then able to make the secondary colors.  My opinion of the video was that it was simple and to the point, yet it conveyed the message clearly.  

Below are my two photos

http://s882.photobucket.com/user/monicatedesco002/library/art%20making%201 

Module 3

1. Color is a function of light. Color theory stipulates that sunlight can pass through a prism (a transparant glass from non parallel sides). The light is refracted into different colors in order of what we know as the rainbow.  Next, a second prism is combined and produces white light.  This proves that colors are actualy components of light.  Color has the ability to effect people unknowingly.  We may associate certain colors with specific emotions. Such as red and anger or yellow for happy.  Color and emotions have a widerange of usefulness.
2. I think that color and its ability to create optical effects is the most intriguing color theory.  Color is a simple way of creating an interesting image without needing the work to be overcluttered. After image and simultaneous contrast are just a few of the ways that color can fool the eyes and make a viewers look and think closer about the work.
3. The main focus of the color video was June and her rendition of Venice.  She begins by painting rudimentary paintings and later she states that she is most intrigued with this location because of its colors of the surroundings.  June paints a perspective that is rich in color.  She wanted to make a painting that eluded the mysterious and so focused on her paint with colors that embodied that.  Throughout her work she is continually assessing the color and what type of mood she wants to create.
4. The most impact that the feelings video imparted on me was the idea that art and the evolution of human thinking. As time progressed, the art that was being created had modernized as well.  With new definition of what art could be, new styles emerged. 

Elements and Principles

First I studied what each element and principle was and determined what might be a good picture.  For each topic, I chose an object that could represent it fully.  The elements were easier to capture because of their singular definition; however, the principles were more difficult.  The principles were more complex in meaning.  It was difficult to discern what would be the best possible picture for the principles, but I think that I was able to take photos accordingly.




http://s882.photobucket.com/user/monicatedesco002/library/Elements%20and%20Principles

Key concepts

Plato questioned the idea of beauty

It confuses the authentic from the fake

Suited for representing vile and violent matters

Capable of influencing people to act in life as we would be ashamed to do

Aristotle wrote Poetics

Depicting pity and fear was good for Athens

There was a way to depict plays good and bad

Plays were constructed and thus poets did know what they were doing

He focused on tragedies

Believed in unity of action, time, and place

Renaissance

Beauty was synonymous with god

Neoclassical aesthetics began to evolve

Battista Alberti

Beauty is harmony and reflection

Laws

Principle of formal order

18th century england lays the foundation for current aesthetics

First system

Formulation of aesthetics disinterestedness

Joseph Addison

On the pleasures of the Imagination marks the beginning of modern aesthetic theory

Francis Hutchesons wrote Inquiry concerning beauty

Writes that order, harmony, and design is the first systematic philosophical treatment of the subject

Alexander Baumgarten

Art and beauty belonged to a sensitivity and reason

Immanuel Kant wrote critique of practical reason

As long as the realms of nature and of freedom are separated the individual is torn apart

No science of beauty

Kant revered artists for their interpretations of beauty

Fredrich von schiller wrote an aesthetic education

Designed to imbue students with appreciation for and understanding of the arts

Art makes us more human ad is the necessary condition for any social order based on rational freedom as opposed to totalitarian constraints

Romantics considered personal talent to be of value in itself and took it to be innate

George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel-Bages of historian art believed in three types of art

Eastern and symbolic

Classical

Romantic

Art was able to present the values that defined human life in symbolic embodiments in statuary  or in images

He represents a turning point because he rejected representation of all theories of art

Arthur Schopenhaurer

Fabric of appearances woven by our intellect

Inspired by hinduism

Music was the highest of the fine arts

Friedrich Nietzsche wrote will to power, the birth of tragedy

Art is a resounding yes to life which goes beyond the logical and the rational

Two principles of art

Apollonian

Dionysian

The combination of the two creates the greek athenian tragedy

The 20th century questioned the notion of art itself

Expression theory

Art is the expression of emotion with expression and emotion defined in ways that are particular to the theory

Ludwig wittgenstein

Philisophical investigation 1954

In order to understand a word one must first consider its customary uses

Morris weitz 1956

There were no necessary and sufficient condition that made something a work of art

George dickie

A work of art could be anything that the institution of the art would designated as such

In the 20th century

Beauty was no longer a central idea when composing art

Art is endless

Walter benjamin

The concept of art had been radically altered by technological advances that enable unlimited reproduction of an artistic object

Contemporary aesthetics involve the observer in the creation of the artistic object

Demanding a new sensibility for both audience and artist

What does it mean to appreciate art?

I believe that Plato in the 4th century was the most significant.  Plato was the first to questioned the arts and what they may mean to humans.  Plato held a low opinion of artists and poets, but he wrote what he saw at the time.  He argued that art was a copy of reality and he believed in authenticity.  He also believed that art was representing things that could not be explained.  He contributed the notion of philosophy to art and started what will become the foundation of art and knowledge. 

Changeux and Ramachandran have clearly invested their interests in the science of art and theory.  I think that they both lay the foundation for why we appreciate art and how it became  worthy of scientific study.  Their importance to the art and science community is impressive.  Jean-Pierre Changeux states that art is in constant evolution and I completely agree.  Throughout the ages art has changed and evolved through meaning and techniques.  Ramachandran supplies that there are eight universal laws of aesthetics.  One of his laws is that aesthetics is perceptual or problem solving.  When you look at a piece of art there is problem solving that happens. Why did this artist create this? Was there a meaning? How did he make it? What were they trying to convey to me? These questions enhance the artwork and add complexity to the piece. 

The videos relate to the text in way of laying a scientific foundation.  The video express the importance and information that aesthetics and art are linked to brain function and why people have composited the applications to art.  The text informs us that there are fundamentals that every artists employs intentionally or not, but the videos are why we create the art.  These equally important factors contribute to the artwork. 

My opinion on the videos is that they are a great source of information.  The second video from CARTA was difficult to understand for its science applications and merely their intense accents! However, the videos are an asset in continuing to understand art and their impact on the human. 

Hello All!

This blog was a little difficult to establish.  I created a gmail account to start setting this up but it was roadblocked by messages stating that I didn't have administrator permission.  So I created yet another one to accommodate for this class.

I expect from this course a comprehensive look into the world of art and to better understand its origins.  I am excited to learn not only techniques used by artists, but the artists themselves.

I have taken several online courses before so I am familiar with the general layout of learning online. I think that this class is more integrated than most and will definitely learn more technological skills as well.

Monica