Reflections of AED 200

My expectations for the course were to learn about different ways to look at art as well as to learn about many different artists. These expectations were definately met. I learned about more artists than I think I can even remember. I also wanted to learn about the different uses of art materials and the videos were great for that, as well as the art exploration assignments. Art to me originally was just something visual to look at, such as a painting. Now I would describe art as something that is everywhere I look. Art is in architecture and books and everything you look at can be described artistically. Art is a way of defining the world around you and recreating it. Van Gogh is still my favorite artist. I just really enjoy his colors and brush strokes in his works. I still feel the same about taking an online course. I like the online classes better because it allows me to work on my own time at any hour of the day. It just takes some time management skills and self-discipline, but if you have those traits online courses are great.

Art Criticism

The projects that I reviewed were "Change" by Meisner, "Surrealism" by Mejak, and "A Child's Impact on Impressionism" by Bojak. I selected the exhibit by Bojak "A Child's Impact on Impressionism" because I really found the theme interesting and it was the exhibit that stood out the most to me. My biggest challenge was decided how to begin and end my article. I overcame this by starting it several different ways until I found an entrance to the article that I deemed fitting. I feel the same about critiquing my peers work as I would critiquing an exhibit in the art museum. It is an objective review and meant to give feedback to the curator. It did not bother me at all to be the one to critique a peer. I would deffinatly like to read the critique of my curator project. It is interesting to see how someone else felt about my work (unless my project was not critiqued by anyone). I would give my finished article about an 8 because I believe it is well written, but I am not a professional art critic and could have done better with more practice. This project was pretty enjoyable to work on and see other's work. I think it was most interesting to see the different paths that people took in their projects.

Self Portrait

Self Portrait With A Pipe

Vincent Van Gogh, 1889

OIl on Canvas

51x45cm

Self Portrait with Monkey, 1938

Frida Kahlo

Oil on Masonite

Self Portrait

Paul Cezanne

1898-1900

Lithograph

I selected the inspiration pieces because they were the ones that stood out to me the most, as well as because they were each done in a different style. I used pencil and colored pencil for my self portrait because I thought it would turn out the best by drawing it and adding some color. The challenges that I faced were mainly figuring out how to draw the self portrait and deciding which media to use. It worked out that I overcame them by using the pencil drawing because I could erase any mistakes. This piece represents me because it is me. It was the best reflection of myself that I could draw. I used line and color in my work and I also believe that there is a balance in the blue and brown on each side. The project was enjoyable to work on. I found it fun to try and create a self portrait and it was interesting to see how it turned out. The finished product, in my mind, was pretty good and a good reflection of myself.

Video Review

Greenberg on Art Criticism, discusses that criticim comes from a value judgement and taste. It mentions the importance of being relevant and that relevance is the only limitation one should have. They investigate the idea that a value judgement from an art critic comes from some art history. Greenberg on Pollock's key ideas are on Greenberg's criticism and relationship of Jackson Pollock and how Pollock himself reacted to criticism of his work. It talks about how Pollock referred to his works as "just easel paintings." In An Introduction to the Italian Renaissance we learn that the Roman Empire gave way to an area for art to flourish before the Empire was overtaken. It focuses on how Giotto led to the birth of art and revived the interest of recreating what we see in depth. He used landscapes and architecture to create a scene of depth and realism. A large part of the Italian Renaissance style of art was realism, perspective, chiaroscuro and the video discusses how different artists used these concepts. The Critics: Stories from the Inside Pages's key ideas to me that were professional art critics must use intelligence and have a real passion for the work they are doing. It talks about how if enough critics say something or believe something, they will have an impact, instead of how in the past a single critic could change opinion. The Colonial Encounter discusses the 1900s world fair and the impact of the french government. The view of the french of the dahomians were that they had no infrastructure. Colonialism was justified by the idea that Africans were savages or barbarians who might turn against Europeans. The Jackson Pollock video's key ideas were on Pollock as a modern artist. We also learn about quality of art and how quality can be judged by an artists ability to articulate conditions of humans at a moment in time.

The videos did relate to the creation of my art crticism project in that I believe it is necessary to have some knowledge of art history and to see many of the works from that time period to properly criticize an artist's work. I also agreed with the idea that an art critic's idea comes from a value judgement and taste because I would have been more likely to be harder on those works that I didn't have a taste for.

The films taught me a lot about art criticism. I can understand the process from a professional critics point of view. The films were very educational.