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.

Nature is Art-art curator project

I thought this project was actually quite fun. It took a lot of work along with quite a bit of thinking. Coming up with a theme was the hardest part for me. There are so many themes you could use in creating an exhibition. Pieces that are inspired by nature always stick out to me so it seemed like a fitting subject. I grouped my pieces by the content of the piece and also by the medium used. The last few are watercolors while most are oil paintings. I chose the design of the powerpoint because it seemed to give light to and emphasize the works of art. All of the images came from the ARTstor database. I am really interested to see what others in the class chose and how they set up their exhibitions in powerpoint.

Week Nine Video Review

The Lowdown on Lowbrow: West Coast Pop Art is based on the concept that a lowbrow is a person regarded as uncultivated and lacking in taste. In the art world is referred to works of certain images such as naked women. It discusses the difference between lowbrow and surrealism. The video also explores the idea of women artists in lowbrow art and the role they play.

Displaying Modern Art: The Tate Approach explores the key ideas of the intellectual issues with displaying modern art. It describes the chronology of the art exhibit as well as the way modern art was displayed by being posted on the white walls with reflective lighting. It discusses the idea that exhibits are theme-based.

Bones of Contention: Native American Archaeology discusses the idea that Native American bones have been kept in Museums for science, but the Native American culture alive today feels it is degrading to a point as it reminds them of the poor treatment of the past. It focuses on the protection of Native American burial sites and how it is limiting the work of archaeologists who may or not know that the bones they investigate are in fact Native American.

George Eastman House: Picture Perfect discusses the idea of the legacy of George Eastman and his work through photography and motion film. The George Eastman house is the mecca of the medium of photography and the largest motion film library around the world. It investigates the impact that Eastman had on the world.

I don't believe that the videos really relate to the creation of my art exhibition project in that my theme is different from that of the videos. The videos focused more on modern and pop art whereas my theme is the natural world. They do however relate to the project in that they spend some time disussing the ways in which an exhibit may be arranged.

I thought these films were exceptionally interesting and absolutly added depth to my understanding of the art concepts I am using in the art curator project. They gave me ideas that I could use in arranging my exhibit.

Video Review Week 8

I selected each of the videos, Matisse and Picasso, Abstract Expressionism and Pop: Art of the 50's and 60's, Uncertainty: Modernity and Art, and Expressionism, because they were topics they stood out to me while doing the readings. Matisse and Picasso as well as Pop art of the 50's and 60's were topics that I also used in other assignments for the course so I thought it would be interesting to learn more about those topics. Some of the videos are similar topics which seemed like a better idea to choose than watching four unrelated videos.

In the Matisse and Picasso video some of the key concepts were that Matisse traveled the world and often took very little with him in search of artistic inspirations. Matisse struggled to find his latest paintings a great deal of the time. Picasso, in contrast, did not travel much. He spent much time in his studio and drew inspiration from what was around him. His name, however, traveled far and wide.

Abstract Expressionism and Pop: Art of the 50's and 60's, we learn that emotions were meant to be expressed through abstract use of colors in the paintings. The video teaches us how to look at abstract art, by looking up close at all the small details and then taking a step back to understand the full meaning of the work. The key ideas focus on describing the different abstract and pop artists of the time and each of their key works. It also goes over the transformation of Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art with Andy Warhol.

Uncertainty: Modernity and Art focuses on how modern life evolved out of old ideas, similar to how modern art evolved out of older art styles and ideas. The key concept is how uncertain modern life can be. It talks about how more modern art changes with modern life through different styles such as Abtract Expressionism and then Pop Art.

The video, Expressionism, defines the style of Expressionism and its use of colors and how this style changed from the formal use of color of Fauvism. The color use in paintings are meant to express a certain emotion. There is often some kind of facial expression or action taking place. The emotional response is meant to be part of the viewers experience.

Each of these four videos relate very closely with the readings from the text. They covered topics from the readings and went into much more detail. They focused on the evolution of styles from one to another and how the artists worked to include these styles in their paintings and other works. It also goes into detail on some of the works that were seen in the text.

The videos really add much more knowledge to the fundamental lesson we've had from the readings. I really like that they focus on single ideas and really take what we've already learned to a new level.