Self Portrait

Inspiration pieces



Title: Self Portrait
Year: 1919
By: Kathe Kollowitz
Medium: Litograph
dimensions: 24 1/8 x 17 1/16"


Title: Self Portrait
Year: 1921
By: Kathe Kollwitz
Medium: etching
Dimensions: 8 1/2 x 10 1/2"


Title: Self Portrait in a Derby Hat
Year: undated
By: Jules Pascin
Medium: ink on paper
Dimensions: 4 1/4 x 2 7/8"

1.Why did you select the inspiration pieces?
I selected these inspiration pieces because they focus on just the bust of the person.  I like the etching and scribble effect of the drawings also. 

Original Photo



My self portrait done in pencil


2. Why did you select the media to create your self portrait?
I like working with pencil and I wanted to do a scribble drawing I felt it best gave the effect I wanted. 

3. What challenges did you face in creating your self portrait and how did you overcome them?
I had to decide what technique to use to send the message I wanted, that was the toughest part.  I knew I wanted to use pencil because I like to draw things realistic.  To answer the question what effect I was going for go to question 4.

4. How does this piece represent me?
I am always smiling but sometimes my life is a mess, thats where the scribbles came into play.  I like scribble drawings.  In this photo my hair is carefee and wispy like my personality, I go with the flow.

5. What elements and principles of design did you apply to this work?   
There is a pattern  and texture with all of the scribbles.   Symmetry and balance mostly because faces are already symmetrical.

6. Did you enjoy working on this project?
I really enjoyed working on this project.  I love an excuse to draw.

7. What did you think of your final artwork?
I thought it was pretty good.  I am usually a perfectionist and thats why I can never finish anything but I have to turn this one in on a deadline and I only had a week to make it so I think it came out pretty good.

Project 5 Art criticism

I viewed Cityscape: Around The World, done by Megan Aiello, Art in the Life of Trees, done by Katie Gruppo, and Wildlife Encounters, done by Willie Wimes. I choose to critique the exhibit, Art in the Life of Trees.  I chose this exhibit because I really enjoyed all of the different tree paintings and the interpretations and explanations behind them.  I have always been attracted to drawing trees.  the biggest challenge when writing my article was thinking about the right comparisons when I was bracketing.  I used ones that related the most to me and things that I already knew but the comparisons I just had an okay grasp on, I had to really think about when discussing them.  Critiquing my peers work can be a bit stressful because you know someone is critiquing you and you want them to say good things about your work, but I also feel that we are all going through the same things and doing the critiques helps one another.  I don't know if I would like to know what someone else wrote about my project but i do know that in the end if I do see it it might help me to improve if I were to do this project again or to know certain information for the future.  I would rate my finished article an 8 because I feel it was well written but I am skeptical about if I did it the right way.  I also never give myself a really high score.  I enjoyed looking at all of the other exhibits and seeing what everyone else came up with.  I also liked doing the critique and interpreting the meanings of the works.

Video Blog Week 15

Greenburg on Art Criticism
Clement Greenburg felt that art criticism was much tougher then any other form of criticism.  He also felt that if you were a really good artist you were not going to be liked by many people.  Greenburg went on to discuss the importance of staying open as a critic and not judging a painting just based on if you like it or dislike it but the content and more. 

Greenburg on Pollock
Clement Greenburg discussed Pollock as he came to be a well known painter. Jackson Pollock was considered an outsider is ideas were to farfetched to most.  Pollock wanted to move from to Mural paintings from easel painting but it seemed as if the world was not yet prepared for this endeavor.  Instead, pollock found some common ground and created overly large easel paintings. These large movable pieces had both aspects.  

An Intro to the Italian Renaissance
Giorgio Vasari was the author of Lives of the Artists.  This film was about his thoughts about these artists in his book.  Vasari talks with his apprentices. Through these discussions, we learned about artists such as Giotto, Ghiberti, Donatello, Vocello, Masaccio, della Frascesca, Botticelli, Leonardo, Raffaello, and Michelangelo.  Vasari tells his apprentice about how art is continuously changing.  Through time we can see the progression of some of these artists.  The Romans influenced renaissance art and shifted art techniques and revived it.  Romans reinforced concepts like perspective, balance and realism seen in many artists from above paintings,  like Giotto who brought back the realistic style.

The Critics: Stories from the Inside Page
Artists sometimes feel that critics are out to get them that one minute they can give you a good review but the next they are just waiting for you to mess up.  For critics it this is not true.  Critics are just trying to get people to think instead of just excepting things for what they are, direct viewers to good works, and improve media. Critics help artists, they make them be on their toes.  If a critic writes a good review about an artist on the edge of getting seen then it could get that artist their big break.  The real goal of critics is to make people see the beauty that the see in the work they are viewing, reading, or listening to.

The Colonial Encounter: Views of Non Western Art and Culture
Dahome artwork is very detailed and beautiful especially in it's repetitious patterns.  Though some think of it as a craft it should be viewed as art.  At the worlds fair in Paris, which ran for 8 months, half of the fair was devoted to French imperialism while the other half  was of other nations' colonies.  The Dahome exhibit suggested there was no civilized infrastructure judging by the thatched structures.  to the western cultures the images reinforced ideas of savage and uncivilized culture.

Jackson Pollock: Michael Fried and TJ Clark in Conversation
Both Micheal Fried and TJ Clark are critics.  In this film they discussed Jackson pollock as an artist and some of his artworks.  Clark mostly focused on the historical role of Jackson Pollocks work, while Fried focused on the aesthetics of painting and sculpture.  The two artists attempted to come together to an fid some common ground.  They both look at and discussed the negative and positive impact of Pollock's work.

 2. Most of these videos if not all of them relate to the Art Criticism Project because we need to act like a critic ourselves.  Using some of the tips that the critics said in these films will be very helpful when looking at our peers work and analyzing it. 

3.I learned a lot about Art criticism from these films, they were very insightful. Before I felt that critics were just kind of out there just to dump on people but I see there is more of a science to it. 
 

Project 4

The theme of my art exhibit is the diversity of life and life itself. Things about life that make it unique. The title of my exhibit is The Wonders of Life. The reason I choose This theme and title is because I like biodiversity its one of my favorite things.  I like studying the differences that make animals and plants unique, I am a Biology major.  
Once I had my topic I knew diversity is best expressed trough all of the different species of animals.  The characteristics that each animal has makes them unique and the amazing part is that every species is different.  Some characterics are extra special, like size, and things like changing colors like a chameleon does. 
Another way to look at the Wonders of life is the Human diversity aspect and how humans came to be different but all the same species.  Different cultures have different looks and different aspects to them.  Religion is apart of every culture and is a wonder of life.  If we are all the same species then why don't we behave the same follow the same things?
The other thing that is a Wonder of Life is the creation stories and how life came to be.
The biggest wonder though besides biodiversity is how all of the organisms on the world need water.  
Once I had all of my ideas, I just needed to find the artwork.  This was the hard part and what took the longest.  I knew what I was looking for but i just could not seem to find it right away.

I looked on the databases but It seems like I type in a key word like “diversity” or “life” and then just 

The explanation of each piece wasn't hard because I knew what i was looking for and I already had all of my ideas.

 

Time Share: An Historic Art Collaboration - My Art Gallery Visit

Title: Time Share: An Historic Art Collaboration
Combines 19^th and early 20^th century artworks to create an overview of artistic history of the city and the region

The Gallery
The lights were used as spotlights on every painting and work in the exhibition.

The color used on the wall was a darker gray.  It helps with the feeling of historic, momentous, moments.   

The interior architecture of the space is very modern, Geometric/square solid walls, white ceilings with spotlight.  The space is very open.    

You are lead through the exhibition by a painting directly in front of the entrance with the title of the exhibit on it and a painting of a historical event on it.   To the left on the main room wall, is the description of the exhibit and theme, which leads you to the first painting immediately to the right of the description.  The paintings are on the walls all around the room each one leads you to the next.  There is a partition in the middle of the gallery.  The two walls frame the painting of President McKinley, in a large golden frame, and show its importance of even more.  On the other side of the partition, there are more paintings of events and areas of the Buffalo region.

The Artwork
The first area is mostly that of paintings of Niagara Falls and the other area, separated by the partition, is of special events and historic areas that shape Buffalo. 

Similarly, the artworks are all historic events and areas that shape Buffalo’s history. 

The artworks are different because all are individual interpretations of events or areas of the Buffalo Region.  There were several different paintings of Niagara Falls but each one was of a different aspect of Niagara Falls or a different story behind Niagara Falls.

Each artwork had a frame some more elaborate than others.  The frame for the presidential painting was made especially for that painting.  Other frames you could tell were older possibly the originals.  All of the frames looked older, not modern, and had lots of detail.  The frames that framed the scenes that were painted on to the parade carriages were framed in a simpler frame but it almost appeared to be a part of a carriage

The artworks were each labeled with a label off to the side with name of the Artist, the year the artist was born and died in parentheses next to the name.  Under it was the Title of the artwork and the date the work was created.  Under the title is the media that is used in the piece.  Under that is the collection that the piece is in. 

The proximity of the artwork to each other- each piece is evenly spaced out, yet close together enough to draw your eye to the piece next to it.  All of the pieces are unified and connected and flow throughout the gallery through the spacing of the pieces and content of the painting. 

Claire Shuttleworth (1867-1930)
Flags Flying, Avenue of the Allies, Main St, Buffalo, 1919
oil on canvas
Collection of the Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society

In this painting we see Main street, a bustling street, looking very lively.  The flags flown out the windows of almost every building are those of many different nations but mostly american flags.  It appears that the people are celebrating something. 

The flags in this painting show repetition/rhythm.  Flags, american and that of other countries, are repeated throughout the painting they are significant because of what this painting is about. 
Through the repetition of the flags we see unity in the painting.  We see both diversity but also patriotism and unity.  America is known as the land of the immigrants, where different ethnicities come together to form one nation.  The viewers eye is drawn back into the painting by the use of perspective. 

 This painting is of Main St. Buffalo.  As someone who is lived in buffalo for a few years now I know that Main street is one of the well "main" streets in Buffalo.  Buildings filled with shops line the street.  This portion of the street as you can see is the part where the trolley/train runs.
1919 marked the end of World war one. We can see the American flags being flown, this is a sign of patriotism.  Buffalo is very diverse, and we can see several different nations flags.

My interpretation of this work is, unity through diversity, America is a diverse nation filled with many different ethnicities, but we come together to live as one nation and to protect each other.  This is a painting celebrating the success of the diverse nation, and this diverse community.   

Ferdinand Richardt (1819-1895)
Niagara Falls, Terrapin Point, 1856
oil on canvas
Collection of the Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society

This painting is realistic and very detailed.  You can see the crashing of the water on the rocks.  The formation of the clouds and the light that peaks out behind them.  There is so much detail in this painting we can see the mist that lingers in the cove.  You can see the Horshoe created by the Falls,  and the lighthouse atop Terrapin Point.

The use of implied lines draws your eyes down the falls.

My interpretation is seeing the beauty and amazment of natural creations.




Lars Gustaf Sellstedt (1819-1911)
Evening Scene, landscape decoration from parade carriage of Taylor Hose Co. No. 1, 1855
Oil on metal circle
Collection of the Buffalo & Eire County Historical Society

This is a realistic painting.   It gives an example of the terrain of the area.  The highlights on the rocks from the sunset are of amazing detail.   

This painting is an excellent example of atmospheric perspective.  The mountians continue to get lighter as they mover back in space. 

The Native American community is still a very large part of the Buffalo Community.  Unlike in other areas.  Native Americans have kept their home here and have a reservation in this region.  The are a big part of buffalo history.  This reminds us that this area was settled by Native Americans before others from europe moved into the Buffalo region and colonized it.  

The Gallery Visit was differnt this time because I was looking at the collection of paintings as a whole and not trying to pick out one particular painting.  A lot of thought has to go into the where each painting is placed in an exhibition in order to give the viewer the right feel for the collection and get across the meaning of the theme.

Mask

These are my inspirational images that i got my idea for my mask from

cmetalhager.wordpress.com

This mask is an Aztec inspired mosaic mask.  It has an analogous color harmony of blues and greens.  There is an interesting pattern throughout the mask, a repetition of organic mosaic pieces.  The mosaic pieces are outlined by contour lines that help the pieces stand out and allow us to see certain parts of the face that would not be seen if it was all one color.
I choose this mask because I really like the use of mosaic tiles, and the analogous color harmony.

zazzle.com
This is another Aztec mask, a replica of one of an old Aztec mask.  The black stripe right next to the light blue stripe on this mask helps to emphasis the two light blue areas.  This mask is also a mosaic and the texture in the light blue area from the small mosaic tiles looks bumpy.
I choose this mask as an inspirational piece because of the stripes of color across the face.   

http://www.shutterstock.com/

This is a Beijing Opera Mask.  I found that all of the opera masks that I looked at where symmetrical.  The human face is already an example of symmetry but the design as well uses symmetry. 

I choose this mask because I really liked the black affect around the eyes.

These are the sketchs that I came up with after looking at the elments that I liked best about each of my Inspirational masks.

I choose the last sketch to use for mask it uses all of the elements that I liked from the three inspirational pieces.


I created an actual 3-D mask, using a white mask and colored felt.  I used the mosaic tiles from the first aztec mask. I used the stripes from the second to create tan and blue stripes.  I used the idea of the black around the eyes like in the opera mask and also what looks like a black water droplet from the opera mask.  This mask uses pattern in the geometric shapes made by the tiles.  There is also symmetrical balance throughout the mask.

I enjoyed doing this project. I think my mask turned out pretty cool even though I merged cultures that have nothing to do with one another. I really liked doing the research and looking at all of the different types of masks.  It was a little hard when I had an idea in my head and then wanted to find three masks to go with it.  I eventually found these masks and changed my idea because I liked them so much. 

Installation Art

What is installation art?
Installation art defines the space that it is in.  It can be site specific, it cannot exist anywhere else besides in that specific location or the message that the artwork is meant to send will be wrong.  These types of art pieces can take months to create.  The artist needs to take into account all aspects of the site and how it will change the meaning/ impact of the art work.  They need to think about the smell, sound, light, etc..

What materials are used installation art?All mediums and materials are used in installation art there are no boundaries.  One artist cut a boat in half and used that for his installation piece.

Why make installation art? 
Like some art pieces, art is made to make a statement of some kind or get across a message or an idea. 

Which artist/installation did I find most interesting?
I like Cornelia Parker her installation art pieces are really cool.   Her one piece “Neither From Nor Towards”, looks like the bricks gradually start to float higher and higher off the ground its really neat.  Other installation pieces of hers look like they are floating in mid-air, as well.

From the material reviewed, is there an inspiration piece that I feel a connection with?

I really did not have a specific inspiration piece I just had an idea and ran with it.  One artist in the video created and installation piece where she installed her bed and her possessions in the gallery.  This kind of has something to do with what I am doing because your possessions say a lot about your personality and a lot about who you are as a person. 

What theme do I want to explore in my installation?
 The theme I wanted to explore in my installation is feeling trapped or just “trapped”.  I guess I chose my location first and then chose my theme.  Not just the feeling of being trapped but being trapped in your life, in your everyday routines.  Like a business man, who goes to work in a cubicle, with the same schedule, the same daily routine, and feels trapped by his life.  

What materials will I use?

 I will use everyday items that someone would use in their everyday routine of their 9-5 work day.  Use dull colors, like a cubicle.

Where will this installation be located and why?

My location is in a small, tight, enclosed area.  I emptied out my closet; it was pretty empty already I went home for the weekend.  In this location a person viewing the installation can go inside the small area and close the door, feeling trapped themselves.  

Describe your installation

This piece of art is based on the everyday routine of a 9-5 worker.  This person obviously feels trapped in their life by how small the space is.  In one of the photos I stood in the space and closed the door to try to show what a person experiencing the art work might see and to help you visualize how small the space is.
I was going for dull colors on the walls for that drab cubicle feeling.  The large clock symbolizes how routines and this type of work is scheduled and very dependent on time.  The clock is on 9 o'clock for 9-5.  The other items in the small room would be those that the person would use every day.  The computer, monitor, keyboard, whiteboard, swivel chair, represent work. The dress shoes and tie are what the person put on and take of every single day, and are symbols themselves of something you would see someone wearing working in a cubicle in an office building.  The other items are the routines that would happen outside the workplace but still routines in this person’s life.  Contacts go in and out every day, you brush your teeth in the morning and at night, you brush your hair, you wash your face. Taking medication is a part of a daily routine.  Most likely if this person is very predictable they will most likely eat the same thing every day.

The main theme here is obviously being trapped in your life of routine and schedules.   

Analyze your installation

Though there is a lot more going on, on the right side of the installation where the chair is the color of the wall on the left still draws you over to the monitor and the keyboard.  Therefore there is balance in the composition.
The use of line is present.  Objects such as the keyboard and the Stouffers box are angled to draw your eye around the art work. 
There is Unity throughout the composition, because the work is about routine, which all of these objects are used for.  

There is some emphasis on the clock. It is in the center of the room and is white on black and very large.  My eye is immediately drawn right to it.  The clock is meant to be an emphasis because of how time plays an important role in routine. 

What are your thoughts on the planning and creation of a site specific installation?
It was a new experience, I do not know if I would do it again but it was interesting.  At first I was super confused and had no idea what I was going to do.  Thinking there was really no way I could screw this up I just went with it. 

Reviewing Peer Responses

Person #1
Project #1: http://lostprofetsun.blogspot.com/2010/09/my-slideshow-on-elements-and-principles.html
Project #2: http://lostprofetsun.blogspot.com/2010/10/my-art-gallery-visit.html

Person #2
Project #1: http://artisticmemoriesx.blogspot.com/2010/09/third-post.html
Project #2: http://artisticmemoriesx.blogspot.com/2010/10/seventh-post.html


2. When looking at Project #1: (Elements and Principles), did you agree with the element or principle the artist listed with the images? Did you see other elements and principles in the images?
For the most part all of the photos that I looked at appeared to really go well the element or principle the artist listed with them.  The artist was clearly keeping in mind the emlmeants and principles when taking the photos.  I some photographs are a prime example of the element shape, but also included in the compoistion are the use of line, color, texture, rythym, value, and other principles and elements.

3. When looking at Project #2: Where there any images in the Peer Blogs the same as your own? If yes, what were they? Where the reasons the image was selected the same or different as your own?
One of the artisits selected the art work " The Marvelous Sauce" for the same reason that I did.  This piece amazed the both of us with how detailed it was.  The lines, and edges were so crisp, it was amazing this painting was not a photograph
Another piece that we both selected was Jackson Pollock's "Convergence".  We both felt that the painting was mesmorizing.  I loved the piece for the love of paint  like  Pollock himself, who wanted to paint it because of his love of paint and what you can do with it.
4. Where there any images that your Peers selected that pique your interest now? If yes, what are they and what is your connection with them? What would you want to know about them?
Pablo Picasso's Bronze Sculpture entitled, "Woman's Head" piqued my intrest.  I would want to know what Pablo picasso was thinking about when he was creating this sculpture.
5. What do you think about  the process of reading your peers reflection? Do you find this to be a valuable in your learning? I do find it valuable, and interesting to see how others view art work.  It allows me to think about things in a different way and open up to new things.  Reading others comments helps to clear up anything that I might be having problems with.

6. Check your Blog and read comments posted by your Peers. Do you find their comments helpful?
The are helpful because they let me know that I am going in the right direction.

Sculpture, Ceramics, and Installation Art: Video Review

Sculptures can be made of many different materials, bronze, limestone, marble, and clay are a few.  Sculptors that make sculptures out of stone like limestone or marble need to be aware of how much resistance it has, how fragile it is, the softness, and other factors that will affect the sculpting process.  Sculptors start first be putting their ideas down on paper.  They can make a variety of sketches, tweaking their ideas until they come up this the right idea.  From the sketch, they then sculpt a small-scale clay model.  Using clay they can reform the model until they get the right shape and structure, something they wouldn’t be able to do with stone.  With stone, if you take too much away you will never get it back.  The Sculpture then makes a plaster model from a silicone mold, which he will use when he creates the full-scale clay model that will then become a plaster model.  The plaster full-scale model has a specialized team of crafts persons that only sculpt certain aspects of the plaster model.  Finding the perfect block of marble in the mountains of Italy or other marble quarries seems to be quite the feet.  The artist needs to find a block of marble that “speaks” to them, the right block for the sculpture that they are making.
Other sculptors don not follow the age old, ancient, process of sculpting stone, but instead have their own style.  Some sculptures draw directly on the stone the natural stone becoming a part of the composition.  It is as if the stone decides what it wants to be.
Installation Art is known as “fashionable yet controversial”.  This type of artwork is that which the work of art not only takes over the space that it is in but defines the space.   Installation art can be site specific, meaning, the art cannot exist anywhere else besides in that specific location.  These art works can take months to set up, and can be set up more than once in different galleries or locations just as long as it does not take away from the original meaning and context of the work.  The piece has to be set up in a similar if not the exact same way.  Some installation art is sold.

Glass is made of sand that has been heated up to high temperatures to become a molten liquid that is malleable.Glass can be sculpted hot by blowing the glass and the bending it or cold by using abrasive and corrosive liquids and chemicals.  Ceramics are made of clay and then gradually cooled.  Depending on what temperature the clay is fired at depends on what type of ceramic it is.  Glass and Ceramics have specific chemical and structural make ups that give them a variety of uses.  For example, through the years glass has evolved to now include reflective glass, more durable glass, and laminated glass. 

The readings gave specific examples of ceramics used in different cultures.  These ceramics were used for holding most likely liquids and food.  We can learn a lot from the ceramics and glassware of certain cultures.

Also from the readings, we read about installation art.  We made the same connection that the artwork defines the space.

The films helped to create many connections.  The visuals and seeing the process that the sculptors had to go through was very interesting and added to my understanding of stone and marble sculpture.    

My Visit To The Albright Knox

I visited the Albirght Knox Art Gallery
These paintings had an impression or an impact on me...

The Marvelous Sauce, ca. 1890, by Jehan Georges Vibert
Oil on Wood Panel, 40x47"

This painting had quite the impact on me the first time I saw it.  Not because of the content of the painting but because of the vivid detail.  I myself have done many paintings using oil paints and acrylics and understand the amount of skill it must take for someone to get this amount of detail.  It is amazing how crisp the edges and lines are and how the characters come to life is like the Pixar animation we see present day.  This painting was done circa 1890, 120 years ago, it is incredible to me that someone can do this especially without the fancy tools that some artists use today to get certain effects in paintings. 


Untitled V, 1977, by William de Kooning
Oil on canvas 81x72 1/2 "
Looking at this painting, I immediately thought of the raging seas and storms.  The colors in the painting along with the harsh strokes made me think of anger or sadness.  My eye is drawn to the white area in the upper part of the painting, like it is the light in the storm, the light.


Ace, 1962, by Robert Rauscherburg
Oil, cardboard, wood, and metal on canvas 108x240"

This piece had a lot to say.  When I sat down to look at it I saw the use of mixed media and was trying to figure out why the artists decided to use the certain pieces of mixed media that he did.  The wooden pieces have A-C-E on them in the upper left hand corner and a R on it in the bottom left hand corner spelling out "race".  But the R is crossed out. The colors are sad.  So putting it together I felt the piece was saying something about race has nothing to do with something. It is a very powerful piece that with a lot more thought and research I could put some more thoughts down about it.    
I feel a connection with...

Church at Old Lyme Connecticut, 1905, by Fredrick Childe Hassam
Oil on Canvas 36 1/2x32 1/4"

This painting reminds me of home.  I am from upstate New York, The Adirondacks, where the mountains in the fall attract tourists from far and wide.  The changing color of the leaves is a gorgeous thing and this older style church reminds me of the the older region that I live in.  I like the stroke work that the artist used, and the variety of color of the leaves.


Convergence, 1952, by Jackson Pollock
Oil on canvas 93 1/2x155"

A friend of mine told me about this piece.  He told me how Jackson Pollock created it by standing on the canvas and squirting out the different colors of paint and then water and other materials.  He told me that this piece captures the essence of paint and nothing more, and that is why I feel connected to it and really like it.  This piece of art work is playful in a sense that everyone wants to throw paint on a canvas.  I love painting and feel I don't have enough time to do it and this painting is an appreciation for paint and what one can do with it.

Notre Dame in the Late Afternoon, 1902 by Henri Matisse
Oil on paper mounted on canvas 37x30 1/4"

I felt a connection with this painting when I knew that the figure in the background was Notre Dame, even with it's minimalist qualities.  I like how the brush strokes also add the the painting. 
I would like to know more about...

Music and Literature, 1878, by William Harnett
Oil on Canvas 24x32 1/8"

Another over 100 year old painting with amazing detail.  The painting looks like a photograph.  I would like to know how the artists can create such great detail? Mostly I would just like to know more about the artist and his style. 


Gootham News, 1955, by William de Kooning
Oil on canvas

I also commented on another of William de Kooning's paintings, and I would like to know more about him as an artist.  This painting seems to have a story behind it.  I can see a nose and some headlines embedded in the painting.  Kooning uses color and the use of stroke marks to set a certain mood in his paintings, I would like to learn more about this.


Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash, 1912, by Giacomo Balla
Oil on a canvas 90x110 cm

Besides the fact that I have two dachshunds at home I really enjoy this painting because of how the artist tries to depict motion.  I would like to know more about the artist and the artists style.  I would also like to know if there is a special name for this sort of a style?

Emily: My Logo

Creating my logo was an interesting process.  After reviewing all of the reading material and viewing the videos I had an idea of what direction I wanted to go in but I still wasn't quite sure.  I thought about something I read about how icons resemble something more.  Figures and symbols can resemble something that people can relate to and will think about when they see your logo. 
Being homesick and missing my dogs terribly I thought of my dachshunds.  Dachshunds, like the two I have at have at home, have quite the personality, they are very outgoing, and goofy dogs.  The more I thought about them the more I saw myself in them and in the breed so I used them to start my sketching process.  I am a very outgoing person, I like to always be on the go, full of energy.  I like upbeat music and having fun with my friends and family.

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I used that picture of a Dachshund for my sketches.  My dogs actually walked in the wiener walk which was what this design was for. 

Knowing my likes and dislikes I knew I wanted vibrant colors and a design that showed something fun.  I am a biology major that's where I got my idea for my sketch with the tree in the middle in the shape of a "y" my middle initial.  I also tried playing around with the letters in my name.  In the end I came back to my original idea of dachshunds, but my first sketch seemed unbalanced so I tried balancing it out more.   

The hardest thing I found in the creation of my logo was coming up with ways to portray myself in a design. I first came up with the dachshund idea I did not think i could come up with much else.  I was trying to think more out of the box, creatively, but nothing.  I felt Biology really did not portray the real side of who I really am everything I could draw would be too mellow. 

I learned from the videos, the PowerPoint and other reading that the most important thing about creating a logo is you capture the essence of the company or person you are creating the logo for and get across the message that they want you to get across.  This is why it is important to brainstorm and come up with a variety of ideas.

Exploring Value and the Subtractive Color Theory

This is my Value scale.  The picture might not be so great sorry.  I have done a value scale before and I find doing it quite tedious if you do it the right way.  Starting with the darkest end I made it as dark as possible by cross hatching and working my way up to pretty much black.  Then you work your way down from black.  In the next box you start kind of light and work your way up to what you think is one step down from black.  You do this all the way down the scale. I found you have to go back and tweak some of the boxes to make sure they are not the same or really similar. 

Color wheel.  I like painting more then drawing with pencil, and I like mixing colors more then shading boxes.  some of the color mixing was tough trying to make a blue with magenta and cyan you kind of have to mix it a few times and get the ratio just right.

I like working with paint better because of the way you manipulate paint. The lines that you smoother for me.  I love drawing and painting both and some days I might say I love drawing more, but most days it's painting.  I really like mixing colors and finding the right one that goes with the composition.

The most important discovery was the truth about primary colors.  That is that cyan, magenta and yellow are the true primary colors because they make black, while red, yellow, and blue, make a dark brown.  If cyan magenta and yellow are primary colors then red, blue and green are secondary colors.

Elements and Principles

I decided to take pictures of my everyday life, which included, walking down Elmwood, eating dinner with my boyfriend and  playing with my friend's hamster.  Starting with the picture labeled "Unity", I felt the vines of the plant and the leaves all really went together.  Nothing really stuck out as disjointed or confusing about this photo it all felt very unified.

 The next photo, labeled "Balance", is of me and my boyfriend our two very light toned faces take up most of the photo mine on one side his on the other balancing out the picture. 

The next photo, "Proportion", is of me with Oreck the hamster showing an obvious size difference. 

In the photo of value, when I saw the glass I remembered how black and white pictures look with glasses and how you can get really good highlights from the light in the room when you take a picture of them. There was a spectrum of light to dark in the room that could be displayed very nicely in a gray scale. 

In the next photo, "Harmony", there is a definite repetition of color and other elements such as texture throughout the photo. 

The photo of the repeating square tiles was really interesting, I could have labeled it a few different elements or principles but it definitely stuck out as an example of the element shape.

  At first when I took the photo of the twin towers on the Psych Center I thought of balance but then I remembered the element, space, which refers to the distance or area around or within things. 

In the "Rhythm" photo, the number of windows on that building stuck out while i was on my walk, and I knew that I could use this photo as Rhythm for how the windows repeat from one side of the photo to the other.      

The photo of the red door says nothing else but emphasis.  When we walked by that house my eyes were automatically drawn to that red door.

When you look at the white rocks in the photo labeled "Texture", you think about how bumpy and jagged those rocks are you wouldn't associate those rocks with being smooth they look like they have a very distinct texture. 

I love fall and how the leaves change color.  What better thing to resemble color then this leaf.  

When looking for an object to be my example for form, I was sitting waiting for my food to come at Pano's when I looked down into my tea and saw my lemons mixed in with my ice and thought it would be an interesting picture.  

I liked the crosswalk picture and was debating whether not to use it as movement or line, because crosswalks imply movement especially since I made someone cross in it when I took the picture.  but I liked the use of line.

A top my desk sits a variety of knick-knacks, what a better example of variety.  So many colors and textures, yours eyes do not know where to look first.  

In my movement photo I was going for one of those night time, high speed, car light, kind of picture where the light moves across the picture where the car has been.  It kind of did that and should the motion of the cars and I like how the highway winds around.  

Aesthetics, Philosophers, and Science

The video, “Aesthetics: Philosophy of the Arts,” touches on a variety of philosophers and their theories on aesthetics. All philosophers have their own views on art and aesthetics but somehow all have the same main ideas about art as a way to express emotions and show creativity. Aesthetics is defined as the nature of beauty another universal thought. The video took us through the history of art showing us the differences both in opinion and the differences in styles of art from romantic, to Greek, to contemporary a van garde art.


I feel that Aristotle’s (4th Century B.C.) theory on aesthetics is most important. He said, “There is beauty by which all things are beautiful”, and I feel that this is a very important because beauty is truly “in the eye of the beholder”. What is the real definition of beautiful? Some feel beauty is perfection and some think things are beautiful that others do not. This concept is true in art. Artists “reason through the senses”.

The video, “CARTA: Neurobiology Neurology and Art and Aesthetics,” discusses how art is genetically built into a person and done by the brain. Many people say that the two worlds can never intertwine, science and art, because science discovers universal principles and art emphasizes individuality, but there is a science to art, universal principles across all cultural boundaries.

I felt that both Changeux and Ramachandran were great speakers and I can relate to their interest in the sciences and in art, as a Biology Major. It was fascinating to hear, when Ramachandran talked about how the mind distorts the picture to please the human brain and that is why things come out looking all contorted like Pablo Picasso’s paintings. I also thought it was very interesting when Changeux discussed how artistic interpretation is up to the individual. You would think of course, everyone has their own opinion, but he went more in depth, talking about how you brain controls the number of possible representations the an artist can have. By doing this, the brain is therefore controlling and creating the artists unique style.

The videos help me to see what I have read in the textbook in a new light. For example, In the textbook we read about context and how the context of an art piece is what ties the creator of the piece to the art itself. It is the background from where it came from, why it was made and now how it connects to its audience. In the film we learned how culture effects art work and how over time art and aesthetics of art have changed.  I felt that the films really went well with the readings and they both were very fascinating, I learned a lot from both. It was comforting for me to see my two worlds tied in together in the one film that gave a scientific view on art.

First Post: The set up

Setting up the Gmail account and the Blog was very similar to setting up all my other online accounts, except I kept clicking back to my other window to make sure I was doing everything the right way because this is for a course and not leisure, so it made me a little nervous. 
I expect that this course is going to be really interesting and I am going to get a lot out of it. Being able to reflect on art pieces is a part of art that I never got to really do and I never really found someone or a friend who really enjoys discussing pieces with me.  I have always just done the painting or done the drawing never really discussed the details of what I was actually doing.  In the past my  high school art teacher would make us do a few critiques where we would discuss the compositions of our own pieces and our fellow classmates. I feel that in this class I expect to learn more about the principles of  composition that make up the historical and contemporary art pieces that we will look at.
I feel that taking an online course will be good for me.  I like doing research online, whenever I see new things or am curious about something I look to the Internet to answer my questions.  I feel at home here on my computer and though I can't communicate face to face, it's a new challenge and I am excited.