Week 16

 Beginning this course I did not expect a lot. I hoped to learn more than I previously knew about art but I was nervous because I am not very good at art. After taking this course I have not only had many challenges, but I have realized that with enough effort I am capable of creating some pretty good art pieces. In my first post my favorite visual art was photography. Now I believe my favorite visual art is sculpture and paintings those both interested me the most and I feel through the course I have learned the most about them. This is my first online course ever and I enjoyed it. I got more out of it than I expected and I learned way more than I thought was possible in an online class. Yes, things were challenging at times but I enjoyed this online class and I would recommend it to anyone.

Art Gallery Visit #3 Self Portrait

 

1. I selected these artworks because not only were they created by some of my favorite artists but they were similar to how I wanted to create my own self portrait.

2. The media that I used to create my self portrait was pencil and colored pencil.

3. Some of the challenges I came across while creating my self portrait were the details in my self portrait that were hard for me to draw. For example, my mouth, nose and eye brows were hard for me to create while creating my self portrait. I over came these obstacles by concentrating and slowly drawing with pencil until I finally got each detail right.

4. This piece represents me because of the what I am wearing and how I am smiling. The piece represents me because my clothing is a part of me, it represents me. I need my glasses to see, I always wear that Oakley hat and Oakley is my favorite store. The sweatshirt I am wearing is my favorite sweatshirt. This all represents me very well.

5. I applied color to this piece and created a colored background which attracts the attention to me. I also used color in myself causing the eye to be attracted towards myself. I also used light, I believe the light from the camera helps with drawing attention to the center of the artwork.

6. I did enjoy working on this project. I personally am proud of my artwork and it made me realize with practice and hard work that I can accomplish and overcome obstacles that I never thought were possible to over come. At the beginning of this class I did not think I was a good drawer and now I believe I am an alright artist.

7. I am proud of my final artwork and I truly believe that my self portrait looks like me. I was skeptical in the beginning because like I said, I do not think I am a good drawer. However, I impressed myself and I am proud of my final outcome.   

Project #4 Journal

I personally enjoyed this project. At times I found it difficult to find the perfect artwork to put into my exhibit but with hard work I found everything I needed. The theme of my exhibition was Love and Violence and just relationships in general and the title was Love and Violence: Love to Feel Wanted and Want to Feel Loved. I based my exhibition off of my previous art gallery visit. While there I enjoyed an exhibition similar to the one I made and it was definitely the most interesting to me. The videos that we were assigned to watch really did help not only my understanding of collections and creating exhibitions but helped give me ideas of what I could do when creating my own. I personally believe that this art project was not only beneficial to me but I enjoyed it as well.

module 13 and 14

First, for the video, "The Lowdown on Lowbrow: West Coast Pop Art", a major key concept is what lowbrow originally meant compared to what it currently means. Originally "Lowbrow" meant a style of pop art that contained pornography in it. Currently "Lowbrow" just means no style or taste within a piece of art. As for "Tate Modern", it discusses creating exhibitions and how to do so, going over things like space, and light and the type of frame to use. As well as creating a theme of the exhibition, whether it be a specific artist or a specific theme. I personally believe this video helped me the most in creating my exhibition. Finally, "An acquiring mind: Philippe de Montebello and The Metropolitan Museum of Art", this also discussed museums of art and exhibitions and creating collections of art. It discussed the process of how he decides what to put in the museums and/ or collections. This video too, helped me with creating my own exhibition. I do believe these videos helped in creating my exhibition, it helped me in the process of choosing what types of art to put in my exhibition as well as what frame to use and what theme. My opinion on these films is they do add depth to my understanding, specifically my understanding of how to create exhibitions and or "Collections" and I like this way of learning.

Module 12

1. As you can see from my previous blogs I state that I normally chose one of the videos because I already know a little bit about it and I want to learn more and the other video I do not know anything about. This is the same case with this, I chose the video "Andy Warhol: Images on Images" because I knew who Andy Warhol was, however I did not know anything specific about him and his techniques as an artist. The other video I chose was "Uncertainty: Modernity and Art", because I did not know much about this topic and I was interested in learning how arts influence on the modern world and visa versa.
2. I found that in the Andy Warhol video I learned his different techniques he uses in his art and I learned that he does a process called silk screening. I learned he generally does his art on both things that he is interested in and things that are popular in the world during that time. For example, his silk screenings of Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor, each of them were popular in the world at one time or another and during that time Andy Warhol did art work on them.
As for the other video, I learned that each piece of art in modern day has a bigger meaning. I learned that generally, if a picture is showing some sort of distortion that the thing being portrayed is not necessarily considered to be normal. An example of this is in the video during it showed artwork during the 1930's and Nazism, it showed artwork of Jewish people and their bodies and facial structures were all distorted because during that time period Jewish people were not considered to be normal.
3. I find again that although the videos relate to the text because of all of the information in each, I still think that the videos are more informational. Although, the text book may be a little more specific on certain topics I still find it easier to understand with the videos.
4. My opinion on the films is that I enjoy this new way of learning. I find it beneficial to me because I find myself getting bored while reading the text book readings, however when learning similar information through these videos I find myself very interested and ready to learn.

Art Gallery Visit #2

Step 1:
1. Rosalyn Drexler "Who Does She think She is?"
2. Love and Violence
Step 2:
1. Bright on the painting but dim in the room
2. The colors of the wall are white
3. Plain white drywall with white marble door frames and dark floor tiles
4. There is an open floor layout so your eyes flow from one piece of artwork to the next. You are also able to see other exhibitions from the current exhibition you are in.
Step 3:
1. Each artwork is spaced out equal distance apart from each other. Also, it is spaced out by warm and cool colors, every other.
2. They feature at least two people showing either love or violence towards each other. For example, either kissing or slapping.
3. Each artwork shows a different form of love and violence. For example, one artwork shows kissing, others show hugging. For violence, one shows slapping, another may show rape.
4. In black and white frames that only cover the outer edge of the canvas.
5. Each artwork is labeled by the action represented in the paintings and by the artist.
6. Approximately 4 feet apart.
Step 4:
1. For the pictures that portray love, most of which are either kissing or hugging. Generally the mood for each is love and affection. They are generally warmer, more affectionate colors with a black frame around the canvas. The violence paintings on the other hand, are generally more cool colors like blue, and they have a white frame around each canvas. The mood in these paintings is generally hatred of towards each other. Another running similarity in most of the paintings were the women were mostly white, whereas, in both the love and violence paintings the male in the picture was black.

Module 11

The videos I chose were called "Dada and Surrealism" and "The Mystical North: Spanish Art from the 19th century to Present". I decided to chose to watch "Dada and Surrealism" because I honestly did not know about either of them so I wanted to learn more. I also picked "The Mystical North: Spanish Art from the 19th century to Present", because I vaguely knew some facts about Spanish art and I was interested in learning more and hoping to find out more about their culture and what they like to focus their art pieces on. As for the Dada and Surrealism video I learned that both Dada and Surrealism were movements of art after world war one. I learned that was basically forms of art that express dreams and visions whereas Dada was art that generally went against the traditional artistic values. Dada was created because of the war. As for "The Mystical North: Spanish Art from the 19th century to Present", I learned the differences of art from past to present. I learned that in the past their art was focused on war and goriness because that is what all artists thought would be the new "norm" in the past. Currently, I was excited to be able to learn about the new types of art such as architecture that is being created in Spain like Barcelona. I personally enjoy watching these videos more than reading the text book I find that I not only am more interested in the videos but I am able to grasp information better through these videos than I am with the text book information.

Mask Project

 This is an African mask that really stood out to me. The use of colors beautifully blend together to make this amazing work of art. I like how the artist made the background color of the mask a darker, navy blue, to make the other colors brighter and stand out more. I personally enjoy the top part of the mask the most. The use of lines inside of the miniature circles looks very eye catching and almost, mesmerizing.  

I chose this mask because as I was doing some research it stood out to me. I noticed not only the different elements and principles of colors and lines but I noticed there is, what looks to be a bird at the top of the mask. That is my favorite part of this mask because I feel like there is a deeper meaning behind the bird. Possible it was the artists favorite animal? Maybe he resembled a bird? But in one way or another that bird was important to him and it was also a reasoning for why I made my mask the way I did. This made me think that I could add different words, and things to the mask besides just basic color that can also tell a story about myself.






This mask is one another one of my favorites and the first thing that caught my eye about this mask was the use of colors. The dark black background color really made the other purples and blues attract and catch the eye. Its use of light, lines and color really make the piece enjoyable to look at. Again, my favorite part of the mask is at the top of the skull, the use of color and lines automatically attract my eye and I believe the tops of each of these masks are the most important part of the mask.

This was my original sketch drawing of my mask. I put things on the mask that describe me. I added both of my favorite colors blue and purple. I did them in lines as well. I also wanted to put some words on the mask that describe me as well. Throughout the process of creating my mask I decided that I was going to make a Paper Mache. I used news paper, printer paper and magazine. I thought that by doing this not only could I create a 3D mask but I could incorporate my favorite colors and words that describe me as well.

Throughout making this mask I must say I did not think my finished product would end up this good. I did however, have some help from my girlfriend. I think my finished product was a success. It uses the different elements and principles of the differences in color, light, texture and some lines. My favorite part about my mask is that it is not only in my two favorite colors, purple and blue but the mask as a whole describes me. Some of the words on the mask say caring, smart, optimistic and even loud. I thought the process of making the mask was both easy and difficult, easy because I knew right away what I wanted to make my mask out of, but difficult in that I wasn't completely sure how to do it. I thought that the mask making was definitely a good learning experience for me because I did not know that I could create something that does actually look artistic. I am very proud of my mask and I hope you continue this project for other students in the future, it was a fun way to learn about mask making.

Module 10

The two videos I chose were "African Art" and "African Art: Legacy of Oppression". The reason I chose both of these videos were because I vaguely remember learning about African Art in high school, however, we did not go into depth about any of it and I was interested in learning more. Some things that I learned in each video is that African Art is very naturalistic. Also, they tend to focus their art on animals, mothers, and chiefs or those of power. They create all different forms of art, some of which include, paintings, sculptures and the most popular, masks. I learned that they were continuously finding new things to create their fabulous works of art with and I love the amount of detail each piece has in it. As for, the video in comparison to the text, I find that the video does a better job at describing everything and I personally think the videos have more detail than the book does, or at least I obtain the information better through the videos because they are more interesting. I actually enjoy watching the videos and I learn better from them than I would from a text book. I wish my other classes could figure out a way to do this.

To begin, I found it very interesting using my hand as the subject matter. I found that there was so much detail in my hand that I never paid any attention to until it was the subject matter of this project. I chose to use pencil instead of charcoal, I think it was easier for me to use pencil instead of charcoal. As for how it was using my non-dominant hand to draw my other hand, I found it to be very annoying to be honest. I found myself getting angry because the detail I was trying to draw with my non-dominant hand was taking a lot longer than it was with my other hand and I was constantly going back to erase. I think the hand that was drawn with my dominant hand was a lot better, more realistic and paid more attention to all of the detail in my hand. I think the other hand that was drawn with my non-dominant hand was still alright but definitely did not have as much detail. I believe they are both successful studies because they confirm exactly what you would think would happen, that the hand drawn with my dominant hand would be better than the one drawn with my non-dominant hand. I personally, would not use my non-dominant hand to drawn in the future. Although I found it to be a good experience, it was very frustrating to me because I was constantly making mistakes and had to continuously keep erasing.

Module 9

I chose the videos on Velazquez and Albrecht Durer. I chose these two because I knew minimal information about each of them and was interested in learning more about their lives. In the Albrecht Durer video I learned about his life and how he began and continued his artist career, from a very young age. I learned that his main focus was paintings, sketches and just basic drawings and he traveled around the world to find new things to paint. I thought his lifestyle was very interesting because he did not have too much to worry about. Nowadays everything is quick, from the minute you wake up to the minute you go to sleep we are always doing something and it is very stressful, I found that it was different back then. As for the Velazquez video I also learned about his life. I learned that he only had one friend, whom was the king and the main focus of his art, and one love his wife. I learned that his main interest in his artist career was painting and most of his artwork was of the king. Velazquez painted what he wanted, however, the king did make some recommendations as to how he painted him. All in all I think the videos are similar to the text however I think there are certain details left out in each of them. I enjoy the videos better because they add to my understanding and learning, and it keeps me "alive" while learning. I dislike reading from the text I find it very boring and end up having to reread what I just read to be able to understand it, I find with the videos I do not have to re-watch them to be able to understand it.

Module 8

1. To begin, I selected the video "The Measure of All Things Greek Art and the Human Figure". I decided on this video because it was about Greek art as a whole and not just specific portions. I also liked that it was specific about the Human Figure.
2.Both videos talk about the difference between realism and non realism. The video "The Measure of All Things Greek Art and the Human Figure", talks about how the artists have somewhat evolved and are becoming more realistic with their art and getting away from Egyptian art. They are making the art have movement and many of the sculptures are of women either pregnant or shown that they had already given birth. As for the other video, the host says that they sculptures are not realistic because many sculptures are paying attention to some things over others. For example, one of the art pieces had a main focus on the stomach and the breast of the women, but the women had almost no arms and had no face. I began to wonder if this meant something? Maybe like how back then women were not powerful and did not really have a say in anything, they were just viewed as objects and sexual possessions.
3. I believe the videos relate to the readings in that most of the generalize information is the same and both discuss the differences between realism and things that are not generally characterized to be realistic.
4. I believe these videos added depth to my understanding because even after reading I did not fully understand the meaning of realism. I thought any sculpture that had any resemblance to a human was considered to be realistic. However, after watching the videos and seeing the artwork and having the information and explanations as to why a piece was either realistic or not, helped my understanding of the meaning of realism.

Architecture

To begin, the two videos I chose were "Prairie Style" and "Architecture: The Science of Design". For the "Prairie Style" video, I learned many new things about Architecture. For example, I did not even know that Prairie Style was a type of Architecture. I learned that the house being built is more horizontal than other houses and there is a lot of attention to detail involved in architecture. I learned that with a Prairie Style house, one of the main focuses is how the windows look in contrast with the wall and surrounding area. Finally, I learned that architecture is not just the building of the house but the furniture, property, and landscaping all combined as a whole to make the architecture really amazing. The other video I watched was "Architecture: The Science of Design", from this video I learned that, like in the other video, architecture is more than just the building of the house and there is a lot more involved. One example, not only the property and landscaping but when creating architecture such as a building the weather is also an important part of the creation process. In the video they used an example where they were building skyscrapers and generally it was windier where they were trying to build, therefore, they put in trees to absorb some of the wind. All of this combined is architecture, the landscaping, the property choice, furniture, weather, location etc. Like I said in previous blog postings, these videos help me learn about the specific topic, in this case architecture, a lot better because I do not have to read I actually get to see the creation of architecture in the process while getting information on the artwork. I chose the videos because I wanted to learn about the Prairie Style architecture and what made it different from regular architecture types and I chose the other video because I wanted to learn the generalized version of Architecture as a whole.

Peer Review

http://kellygandt.blogspot.com/2016/10/first-gallery-visit.html#comment-form

https://kellygandt.blogspot.com/2016/09/photobucket.html?showComment=1475863862596#c6613263372296260494

https://emilyhirsch-art.blogspot.com/2016/09/photography-project-1.html?showComment=1475864771694#c8317599307698736795

https://emilyhirsch-art.blogspot.com/2016/09/module-five-project-2-art-gallery-visit.html?showComment=1475870788946#c4253250292289330049

1. For project 1 for both Emily and Kelly I agreed each of them chose the proper elements and principles for each work of art they chose to write on. I would have done the same. I personally enjoyed looking at each of the pictures that had chosen and reading about where each came from and why they chose to use that piece.
2. For project two I did not chose any of the same pieces of art as either of them. However, for Kelly, the 100 cans piece made an impression on me just like it did on her. And for Emily the Niagara piece had an impact on me because, I too, live in and grew up in Buffalo, and am familiar with the surrounding area and I think it is a beautiful piece of art with amazing detail.
3. I think that the process of reviewing each others art work projects was a good experience. It allows us to know what interests the other classmates as well as see the similar likes and dislikes that are shared between me and other classmates. I also think it helped me learn better because not only was I able to do the project and understand why I chose the specific elements and principles, I was also able to see the elements and principles in relationship with different pictures than I had chosen.

After watching each video I noticed specific parts of each video that were both important and interested me as well. Both videos were similar to the text in many ways. However I believe it helped me to learn better than the text because it not only describe each key concept, the videos showed you the process. After watching both the sculpture video and the glass and ceramic video I personally enjoyed the glass and ceramic video more and felt that I learned more. I learned that glass is actually made out of sand and to make glass you have to go through many steps in firing the glass so that it continues to shape and harden the way you want it to. I also learned that there are many steps in the process of making ceramics. I did not realize that you first had to pour the liquid into the mold, then fire it, then once it was hardened you had to glaze it. I personally enjoyed that step in the process the most. Furthermore, I did not realize how many things actually were made out of and had both glass and ceramic in them. Some examples of things that are made out of and have glass are, light bulbs, certain technology, computers/televisions and glass art like in churches. Some examples of things with ceramics in them are cars, technology, kitchen utensils and plates/bowls and much more. As for the sculpture video I found it very interesting to watch the man create these sculptures by hand just using a hammer and an edge. I also found it interesting that he told his story and how he began sculpting at a young age and used to use a screwdriver. As for the videos as a whole, I feel like they helped better my learning and understanding of sculpting, installation of the sculptures and glass and craft. Showing me the actual process of creating each, the sculptures, glass and ceramics instead of describing it was a better way of teaching as well as it helps me to better remember the information.

                                                           Echo, Wow and Flutter

                                                                  La Toilette, 1906

                                                              Music and Literature, 1878

                                                                The Coming Storm

                                                                       Vega-Nor

                                                                          + and -


1. The artworks that I felt had an impact or impression on me were La Toilette, and + and -. For the La Toilette artwork, it had an impact on me because it made me realize there are two sides to everyone and someone is not always like they appear to be. As for the + and - piece, it impacted me because it was very soothing and relaxing and it made me realize how it is important to remember that sometimes you need to sit back and relax and to appreciate the little things in life.
2. The artworks that I feel a connection with are the Music and Literature Piece and The Coming Storm. For the Music and Literature piece, I literally looks like my life in a picture, a lot of books and homework and studying. It reminded me how important education and studying are. As for the Coming Storm artwork, I made a connection with this because it actually looks like land by my cabin in Rushford when there is a storm, it instantly reminded me of that and I felt a connection right from the moment I saw it. I also feel many feelings when I look at this artwork, the similar feelings I have when I am at my cabin during a storm.
3. The artworks I wanted to know more about are Echo, Wow and Flutter, and Vega-Nor. To me, both look like just a bunch of different color lines combined to make art. I want to know the meaning behind the lines, if there are any. I want to know if each line in these pieces have specific meanings or if the lines as a whole means something. Both of these instantly caught my eye because the different uses of color and lines, however, they both kept me wondering.

 I personally thought creating my logo would be more difficult than it actually was. I do not believe I have any artistic ability at all and I thought I would find this very challenging because I am not good at drawing. As you can see the logo sketches are not perfect but I did try my best. I enjoyed creating this logo because it allowed me to think about different things that represent me and I tried to incorporate them into my logo. For instance, it is blue because my favorite color is blue, the sign is a Leo because I am a Leo and was born in August and in the center circle in the sign it has the number 17 because it is not only my lucky number but the day I was born. The most important discovery I made while creating my logo is that if you just put a little thought and creativity into something, even if you don't consider yourself to be artistic, you can still end with a satisfying product. The most important thing I learned with the videos, and the textbook is that it is a process to create any work of art, even a logo. You should not rush the process because it is a key part in creating the right logo, give it time so that the ideas can continue to flow and you can continue to add to make the logo better and better. When I first did a sketch it was just a simple Leo sign. Then I added the word Leo and outlined it in black. As I went on I thought it would be a good idea to make it my favorite color and put the number 17 in there to better represent myself. I belief the final product, although may not be pretty, I am satisfied and personally proud of myself for what I created.

Color wheel:

Value scale:

 

 

 

First, I enjoyed creating these. I have no artistic ability at all so I enjoyed this because it made me feel like an artist even though I am not. I personally liked the value scale and understanding what value meant as well as gradient. I liked the value video better because I felt it taught me more things that I did not originally know. Such as the meaning of value and gradient. I feel that the most important information I learned from these videos is what the primary colors are and the meaning of value and gradient.

 

 

 

 

 

 

gefert17's Project 1 Elements and Principles album on Photobucket

gefert17's Project 1 Elements and Principles album on Photobucket



With this project, first I had to create a photobucket account. After that I collected pictures I had taken with my digital camera that had resembled a specific element or principle. For me, I enjoyed the photography part of this project the most, navigating my way around the photobucket website was a bit difficult for it being my first time using photobucket.

Color theory and emotional effect

1. Artists use different colors in their work to have different effects on emotion. For example, darker blue and grays may be more depressing and gloomy, dark reds may appear to have a violent effect on emotion. Bright yellows and oranges may be happier. Each color has an affect on emotions, like in the first video how the artist was trying to create a depressing emotion by clashing greens and reds, different colors clashed together create differences in the viewers emotion.
2. What most interests me about color is how each color has a different emotion to go along with that color. Not only does that interest me but it amazes me how just a simple color has so many effects on the viewer. For example, a color can attract the viewers eye to a certain focal point, color causes the viewer to move their eyes through the work and it also controls how the painting or work of art makes the viewer feel, depressed, happy, violent, upset, etc. Before watching these videos and reading the chapters I never realized how many different parts are involved with colors.
3. The biggest impact the color video had on me was when it was telling us about how long it was taking the artist to paint the picture just to get the right mood and emotion and it was all about trial and error, she wanted to make the painting just right and just a small piece of the wrong color could cause a different mood or emotion. I enjoyed how she explained the painting and how with certain colors it made it violent but she wanted it to be calm and soothing.
4. In the painting a Marat David that was in the video, which portrayed the death of Marat, he was sitting in a pool of his own blood, he died while writing something. This had a big impact on me because I realized that the darker colors and the black background gave me a sad and gruesome emotion and it made the picture very lifelike to me.

1. From the videos and article I learned that the brain is a key part in visualizing art. I learned that our brain is 'wired' to see specific color contrasts and light contrasts and facial features in art work. I learned that our brain affects the way we see things and depict pictures. Different people see different things such as colors depending on what parts of the brain you use. A good example of this would be the dress that everyone knows about, some thought it was blue others thought it was gold, it all depended on how your brain viewed the dress.
2. The philosopher I believe has the most important theory about aesthetics is Morris Weitz of the 20th century. He argued that the expansive character of art is logically impossible to ensure any set of defining properties. Meaning that art is so different and there are so many different forms of art that one thing can not be its sole defining characteristic.
3. I think both Changeux and Ramachandran scientific view of aesthetics and art were very interesting. They both had different view points on different topics. One thing I liked about the lecture was learning the comparison of art to humans just like the other video learning about how the brain views art. I enjoyed learning about that because it gave me a better understanding on how the human brain works and it actually all makes sense to me now! I would recommend both of these videos to anyone who enjoys learning about art, philosophers or even a little bit about themselves.
4. The articles and videos relate in that both talk about different ways we view art, about how the brain views art as well as older famous artists and philosophers.
5. Personally I enjoyed the videos better, although I liked the articles, I enjoyed the pictures in the videos to give me more of an understanding, like a guide, as I learn about different topics of art. I believe the videos helped me get a better understanding of the different philosophers theories, differences in art and the way the brain views art.

1. The process for creating the blog difficult, I have 3 different gmail accounts and each time I tried to create a blog it kept telling me I needed to create a gmail work account. Eventually I got it but it was confusing at first.
2. I expect to learn different and interesting things about art that I did not know before. I have always been interested in art, however, I am artistically challenged for lack of a better word.
3. This being my first online course, I have mixed emotions about it, and there are different things that I still need to get used to, but for the most part I like it.
4. Some things I believe apply to me is that when you fail you should continue to try and try again until you get it right. I also believe that even if I get angry when studying because the information doesn't stick in my head, if  I say it 5 or 10 times more it will likely stick. The last thing is that determination is key, not just for me but every college student and I am determined to get good grades and try my best. And even if I do not do well the first, second or third time I will continue trying my best until I get it right.