class

I enjoyed making the mask the most.  I liked doing the research of all the different tribal masks.  I am really into tribes in South America and this project I found myself getting really into the research.  I think that this project would of been more fun to have the materials to create a real mask but Being a course online I did not have these materials readily available so I had to settle on a drawing.  I like using Angel.  Even my classes that art online often use Angel for just about everything so I was already familar with the program.  I have said this in a previous post already but I would try and move the fridays assigments to saturdays because of the people who work during the week and are crunched for time.  I would definetly keep the videos but maybe assign to only watch three at a time maximum because it is hard to watch so many and do revewis on them. The videos were very informative and some were more interesting and I didn enjoy that part of the course.  I would maybe delete having to write on other peoples weekly blogs.  I personally never went back and read what people said.  I think though critiquing some one elses work is a good idea for that one project just to learn how to do it.  I would recommed this course to people but I would definetley tell them to make sure they have time during the week to complete homework.  I would maybe take off less for late assigments.  I understand the need to keep deadlines and with online classes its probably harder however I think 25 points a day on a major assigment is high.  I think ten or 15 points would be just as effective and less discouraging.

final log

Mt expectations of this course ws to learn about art.  I felt it went more in depth into history of art and I was happy to see that.  Some of the information from the textbook I was able to use in discussiong art in Mexico for my one class.  I also think that some of the videos were very informative.  I wasn't really a fan of the interveiw ones however.  Art is everything around you, anything that can be open to intrepatation.  THis doesn't really go more indepth from the beginning of the year but I definetely know more about how to look at art including elemenets and principles and being receptive.  I didnt have a favorite artist when i started because i didnt know much about art.  I have a lot of artist I like now.  I enjoy the classical main artists but I do also enjoy Frido Kahlo.  I learned about her in my Mexico class as well.  I like the way she incorporates her emotions and her feelings towards deigo rivera her husband in several of the works.  I had the oppurtunity to study her as well as deigo rivera and the mural movement more in depth and i was very interested.  This particular online course had a lot of very specific deadlines through out the week and it was hard for me to meet them because of school work and children.  I thought it was going to be more leasurely.  I would of found it easier to have some of the friday assignments due on saturday.  I still prefer to take this course online however.

self portrait

I selected these images because like my picture, I do not have a happy face because I am mad about my grade and all of these pictures show a blank expression open for intrepitation.  I selected a pencil because it shows the blan and boringness in my mood at the time.  I used color, lack there of to express emotion.  I used dark lines to set a certain mood.  I used space and placed my self as the center of the picture.  I would of enjoyed this project more if I wasnt upset at the time.  This peice represents how frustrated I can become very easily.  I think my final artwork acheives my goal of anger, however I do not have the patience to draw and take the time needed to develop proportion.  Drawing is not something I probably will ever be good at.

art critique

I looked at everyones projects.  I thought it was interesting that we all came up with very different ideas.  Some topics were similar but everyone spun them on different angels.  I selected the project called Looking out my Window because it seemed to magical and relaxing.  I had trouble writing my critique because I think I was too nervous to write on other peoples thoughts.  I also didn't know where to start.  It would be interesting to read what other people thought of my work, afterall it did take me a while to complete it so it would be nice to know what other people thought about it.  I havent read many critiques written out about people so im not sure how mine compares.  I would probably give it a six becuase I know Im not very critical, I try to be too nice.  I enjoyed this project but I think that 25 slides was a bit long.  The actual putting it together took a very long time.  I think we could have obtained the same experience with picking about 15 slides.

week 15

The first two videos I watched on the interviews on Greenburg and Pollock I must admit were hard to pay attention to.  The monotone voice ruined it for me.  The first video tells us that writing on art is very hard,  It is much easier to write about topics such as music instead.  Greenburg supports modern art but he is very specific in saying that not every modern artist has proven themselves.  He was very adimit on saying that he did not want to generalize every modern artist.  I thought this was interesting because it not something you hear everyday, a person admitting there are some flaws in what they beleive in.   I didn't really feel that there was much i could both from this video for art critiscm.

The Pollock video was a little easier to obtain information.  He talks about the emerging of modern art and the fading of traditional art.  He talks about the shift from tradtional aisle painting to the mural paintings explaining that aisle painting is dead.  One think that I thought was interesting in this video was the fact that they said there is no explaination of what really makes a painting a sucess.  I must admit sometimes there are artworks I look at and wonder what people where thinking yet they are extremly famous. 

I thought the video on the Reniansance was interesting because it was done through story telling and it was something different.  This video was very factual and I learned a lot about the different Reniansance artist.  While I could read Giorgio Vasaris, Lives of the Artists to obtain this imformation, I prefer the video.  My favorite artist this movie talked about was Giberti.  The artwork that he does on the door panels in outstanding.  The attention to human detail is amazing.  I did not realize that they took 21 years to create, I imagined it took a great deal of time but that just seems like forever.

The next video I feel can be used in the project because it has o do with critiscm.  Many critics pick to write about what is poluar in mainstream and I think to be a successful art curator you may have to pick something that would appeal to people coming to visit your gallery.  I liked also how they compared critics to reporters becuase in a sense they go with the flow and the demand.  Unfortunately critics pick items that would appeal to the masses over some uncommon topics and if you are one of the ones who like the rare topics there may not be that much information for you. 

The next video caught my attention again because it dealt with history.  In the video we learn how the French had such power and influnce in its art, that it was able to creat steritypes for the African and Arab culture.  The mad people think that African from the Dahome area were violent, nieve and barbaric.  They made the Arab women look very sexual and exotic and in a sense gave a negative image to them.  One thing that we touched base on in the last videos was the studying of indigenous people.  Inthe previous movie they too claimed that they were studying bodies for sceince.  The part that differed in this video is that the people they were studying were alive and that they were naked and exploited.  This video can be used as a lesson that the artworks you pick for you gallery with give the audience a certain tone in the back of their mind about the topic and you should take that into consideration when picking your art works. 

The last video again was an interview that couldnt really catch my attention.  It was on Jackson Pollock the father of modern art.  He is famous over the contraversy in his painting Lavendar mist.  It is said to represent human beings.  My mind is not open enough to intrpret spaltter paint to a human being.

week 13?

The first video that I watched was the lowdown on lowbrow.  I learned that the term was once used to describe art that was used with pornography but is now associated with art that nobody knows how to categorize.  The term lowbrow was invented by a man named Richard Williams.  The art that is included generally includes pictures of women and hot rods.  Lowbrow is also used in rock posters often in the 60s with a mixture of psychedelic art.  This period would rise after WWII.  This was because people began to fear the unknown.  I enjoyed this film and it did help me to open my eyes on what to do with art that goes against the grain but it did not help me with my project because I have such a specific topic.  This video was very interesting to learn about the artwork that you may not normally think of, such as artwork on posters.

The second video that I had watched was the Tate approach.  The Tate gallery was so popular that it had received a million visitors in a few month period.  There is controversy about this museum because it lacks important parts of chronology.  It focuses on British art and lacks western influences as well as female artists.  One of the aspects of the video was useful in creating the project in that it shows peoples responses to artworks that are placed in a room together that are not from the same period or same medium.  There was one room that contained traditional art and modern art and it supposedly desgined that way to make you think of the parallels between the artwork.  I think that this showed me that viewers can be confused or get frustrated or offended if it is done this way.  This video was more of an art gallery tour and I prefer more historical videos like the Indian one.

The next video on the Native Americans was my favorite.  It was about the laws that were made to prevent archeologist from keeping remains of Native Americans as well as important artifacts in rituals.  This movement started in Iowa and would spread across the country.  I was not surprised to hear that the collection of skulls was collected to prove that the caucasion race was superior.  I was however shocked that during that time that they believed that Native Americans were above African Americans.  Native Americans were forced to live on reservations while African Americans could live within the society inventiually.  I just thought that the scientist would have them the lowest ranking.  I do not believe in a superior race, I was just shocked that how he justified it.  I also liked the tribal affiliations and how the Native Americans refuse to believe science.  Migration patterns were in the beginning of being discovered with the uses of genes in bones in Native American but then was made illegal.  This did not really help with the project I thought, at least directly but I feel that it helps to explain to us as to why there are such limited artworks out there now that pertain to Native Americans.  It also shows us was to why pieces like pottery which are considered art are not in museums as much because if it was used in ceremonies, Native Americans can have it back.

The last video I watched was the George Eastman House.  I was not aware that such an important part of history as well as art was so close to Buffalo.  I think that this video has made an impact on me as the viewer and I would like to visit it.  This pointed out to me that there is more to art then the usual and that film should be considered.  I did learn in the book about film but I guess until this video I did not think to choose this as a topic for my project.  One quote that I enjoyed form this video being a history buff is that by displaying and keeping certain videos it shows people in the future was a culture what we value and then maybe they can understand us.  The collection contains a huge variety of films from the century including silent films, operas and even King Kong films.  This house was all made possible by George Eastman the father of popular photography.  He invented motion picture films as well as the first affordable personnel camera.  I really enjoyed this film.  It showed me the importance of preserving and restoring art.

art gallery

I went to the Burchfield Penny Art Gallery for this assignment.  This assignment was a little different that the last one because I had to focus on space, architecture and lighting.  There we two major types of lighting in this gallery.  The front of the gallery used a lot of natural lighting from the ceiling as well as some big windows found throughout the gallery.  For the most part threw the gallery there were individual lights pointing on the pictures.  The walls were white for the more modern art and dark grey in the rooms with the older collections.  I noticed several pillars in the middle of the buildings and beautiful wooden staircases for some of the architecture.  The museum was set up so that it flowed for you to walk through.  There wasn’t much option as to which direction to go, it seemed to me that it was designed for you to walk a certain way.  One thing I did notice as far as space is that the ceilings were extremely high.  Some of the rooms had works of art hanging from the center from the high ceilings.  The art work was for the most part evenly spaced out.  I thought it was odd that some of the art work was hung so high that you really good not get a good look to analyze and interpret it.  Most of the artwork was not individually labeled.  The name of the artist would be on the wall and sometimes there would be one sign for all the artworks.  Most of the modern art work did not have frames.  The room with the older artwork had old elaborate bronze thick frames.  I feel the gallery can be broken into old and new.  The older artworks were similar in that they contained usually a self portrait or a picture related to wars going on.  They differed in that they picked different topics on wartime to focus on.  The modern art in the gallery different because some of it was three dimensional, some of the artwork was photography.  Other consisted of collages and some were drawings and paintings.  Each room had a specific theme.  The proximity of the artwork varied in different parts of the museum.  Some rooms only had one picture on a wall, usually in the center.  Other walls contained pictures evenly spread out, one following the other.  The artworks that hung from the ceiling generally were in the center of the room.  One of the exhibitions I passed was the exhibition cabinetry design.  There was a lot of pottery and plates in the cabinets with war themese painted on them.

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In this water color painting I see a house that is extremely old.  To the side of the house there is a barn.  Both the house and the barn are surrounded by trees.  With in the trees there is an owl.  There is a wide open feild with trees further in the background.  This painting by Charles Burchfeild is not a realistic one.   This paitning reminds me of something scary.  Burchfeild uses space to empahsize the house.  He also uses colors that depict old and frightening tones.  The trees do not appear to be in proportion to the house.

This spray painting is of a garbage pile.  There is a pond in the front that shows the refelction.  This very well could exist in real life.  The artist uses rythm and repeats the same thing over.  He also uses light in the reflection of the pond to empahize how large it really is.  He also uses dull colors to show how the site is gloomy.  I think the artist is trying to get you to realize how much garbage there can be found everywhere and I feel that this painting is effective.  I think the medium  of spraypaint that was used also represents clutter and filth becuase of the negative image spray paint carries.

This particular artwork is literally just a hermit crab on top of a rocket ship.  This artwork is inside a cage with out a top, almost like a crib.( didn't capture the whole picture in my image)  The artist choose all white ceramic for this artwork.  This can symbolize the symblicity of the message she is trying to convey.  The symbolism beheind this is that a person or hermit crab is often viewed to be from another world.  I believe this is what the artist is trying to get across.  This sculture is one of three in the exhbit that have similar meanings about people who are seen as hermit crabs.  The sculpture is placed in side an empty cage with nothing around it.  The space also emphasizes the simplicity.

video 11-12

The first video that I choose was the Picasso and Matisse one.  I thought this video did a great job showing many of the differences between the two artists.  I picked this video because I like a lot of Picasso’s work but was unfamiliar with Matisse’s work off the top of my head.  We study Picasso in many chapters in the book.  This video breaks down the two artists and points out a lot about them.  I particularly enjoyed a lot of the quotes in the video, “Life’s a Bitch” “ Drawing is art with less materials” “ Painting a picture is a dramatic action in course which reality is disengaged.”  I learned more about Picasso then what I could get from the reading in the book.  I learned that ¾ of the object that he uses in his paintings never existed.  He often used worthless objects because they interested him.  Picasso’s work after WWII turned very dark.  Picasso was a very impulsive man.  Matisse is believes that man breaks free from nature.  Matisse was a man that was unaware of his talent for the longest time.  Unlike Picasso his art did not turn dark after WWII.  Matisse believed that the sky symbolized both pleasure and anguish.  Painting caused Matisse panic, fear and struggle.  Gretude Stein would bring both Matisse and Picasso together.  They would respect each other and they would exchange their work.  I enjoyed this video.

I also watched the video on Dada and surrealism.  Like the book this video stated that Dada and surrealism would bypass reasoning and reach the unconscious mind.  I picked this video because this section in the book caught my eye for some reason.  This was a reaction to WWI.  Kurt Swhitters would use Picassos collage techniques.  He says that art is a life of his own.  He would use objects like tram tickets in his work.  He was also into music and poetry.  He would soon be exiled out of the country.  This video was not that interesting to me. 

I watched the video on Expressionism.  Edward  Munch would use the relationship of men and women and sexuality in his paintings.  He is famous for his painting on Ashes.  He would use colors that would symbolize emotions such as red black and white.  He claims that he does not paint what he sees but what he saw.  He was also known to create his work several times and alter it each time and create a new meaning.  Franz Marc in this video was known for his painting the Blue Horse and the Tiger.  He would boldly renounce everything. This video mentioned a lot of what we learned in the book.

I watched the video on Cubanism.   This video relates to our textbook in several areas.  A famous Cubanist painter Juan Gris would often in cooperate architecture in his paintings.  He is known for his painting the Violin and the breakfast table.  Another well known cubanist painter would be Marcel Duchamp.  He would focus on movement in his paintings through space and time.  We covered this when discussing elements of art as well.  Dulaney was an artist who would take this a step farther and would focus on light and color in his work.  He used this in the Eiffel Tower.  He would not stop at the surface but analyze the inner law.  He was also known for his circular form art.  The colors themselves were the objects in this painting.  I thought this was interesting.  He said that this particular art was not meant for interpretation but designed just to look at.  I found this topic interesting and a touched base on this topic in my Mexican History class and how art influenced politics. 

mask

Yurupari Mask

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Ticuna people, Western Amazon, Brazil

14 inches, reeds, wood, bark cloth
I choose this mask because it really stood out to me.  Compared to other Amazon masks this one to me looks the most authentic.  My guess would be this mask would orginate during the slavery period in Brasil when the African American population was the largest.  I think this mask looks the most African and it caught my eye because of that. 

IYurupari Mask
Ticuna people, Amazon
20 inches, carved wood, bark cloth hood 

I Picked this particular mask becuase I love learning about the tribes in Brasil.  I think that the western Amazon is a very interesting place and I think that these masks show the the tradtional skin and texture of the indiginous poeple.

I enjoyed this project.  I wasn't show much into the actual drawing of the mask but I really did enjoy looking at all the masks.  I concentrated on three masks from the Amazon region.  I tried to portray all three of the masks into one.  I stayed with the colors yellow brown orange and grey because that is all the colors they seemed to only contain.  I kept the mouth narrow becuase in all three mask no one was smiling.  The eyes are narraw as well in all three.  I put the background of the eyes yellow because in the first mask that had yellow eyes it really caught my attention.  I felt this was the focus point of my mask.  I used long lines for the nose because it seemed like they all had long noses.  I think I would enjoy doing this project in an actual art classroom where there would be more materials to create this mask in 3D. 

Yurupari MaskWhite Man mask
Wichi people, Northern Argentina

9 inches, painted wood


I picked this particular mask because I study Argentina in school and I thought it was interesting.  THis mask depicts the white men that arrived in Argentina, the Wichi tribe would make fun of the white men from Spain who looked funny to them.  This reminds me of the reading in the text about the African masks and how they too would represent the white men that came to Africa. 

week 10

The first video I picked was the one on Buddhism.  Different relgions have always fascinated me.  Reading about the influence in art from Buddhism made me want to look into it more.  THis video begins to explain people who practice Buddhism believe you should be in the world and not of it.  They try to free themselves from their ego.  This video showes parts of India where the rivers flourished.  Buddha was seen as a saint and savor in India.  The city of Sanchi would honor buddha with relics every where.  Stuppas were an archetecturial influence that Buddhism had in culture.  They were funeral burial sites.  Much of the Buddhist art contains elephants, pot belly dwarfs and lions.  One thing I found interesting is that there is a very well known monastry in upstate New York.  This video was very educational and showed a lot interesting art work

The Second video that I choose to watch was the one on Hinduism.  Hinduism and Buddhism are very similar and I thought that this video would be just as interesting.  One thing I liked about this video was the music it used in the background.  I enjoy the spiritual music of India.  Hinduism beleives that Heaven is on Earth.  They differ from Buddhist in that they believe in reincarnation and everything that they do will affect who they will be in their next life.  The oldest city in the world is Varanasi in India.  India has very elaborate architecture all over becuase they beleive that can worship anywhere.  One of the cultural aspects of India is the burial of their dead.  Aarti is the name of the ceremony that is used where the dead float across the river into the afterlife.  During this whole ceremony Hinduists are not allowed to touch the dead body.  I think that this video was important in understanding where some of the Indian art and why it is so important in the Indian society.  This video showed the importance of architecture in India.  This can be related to our lessons on Indian Art as well as architecture.

The third video that I watched was the one on African Art.  I picked this one because I think that African tribes are very interesting.  African Art  is dress, hair and tradtional relics.  African art is used in ceremonies, especially dance.  This video was interesting when it got to the part about the masks that are used.  Most of the masks rarely date back 200 yrs plus because of the very degrateable materials that they are made of.  The video also talks about tradtional rock painting in Africa.  we seen this several times int he text when it talks about cave paintings.  The pictures were very interesting becuase they were dead on what the animals really looked like.  They were very accurate and you can easily pick out what each animal is supposed to be.  This video then goes on to talk about the Bronze casting in Egypt.  We have learned several items about Egyptian art in previous chapters.  I think this video captured some very interesting African masks and really caught my attention.

The last video that I picked was the one on Japnese art.  I picked this one hoping it would be on modern Japenese art, anime.  I knew the odds of that was rare because the textbook talks apart early artwork but it was worth a shot.  This video is about the Great Wave that is known everywhere in Japan.  It shows us how nature inspires.  The orginal painting was done in layers by Hakusai.  One thing that I found interesting in this video is that it was so cheap to obtain a copy.  I found it hard to believe that something so valuable in a culture was so cheap.  The great wave painting was important becuase it shows the freezing of time.  This was a new topic in art at this time.  The wave is commonly known by many and often used in everyday Japanese culture.  Poeople have pictures of waves on their clothes,walls and even tattoo a wave on their body.  The wave symbolizes the cause and affect, chaos and order.  I think that this video was interesting because it really shows us how important it is.  I thought the tattoos really made me realize how important it really was.

It was a little weird using my hand as a subject for drawing because It kept shakening.  It was however convientant.  I choose a pencil honestly becuase I did not have any charcoal.  I have never used charcoal before for drawing anyways.  I thought drawing with my non dominant hand was fun to try.  My picture however looks like a third grader drew it.  I do not have much experience using my non dominant hand for anything so my hand was very shaking and the picture is out of proportion.  The angel i held my hand and the way I drew it looks like one of those kindnergarden turkeys you make with your hand for thanksgiving.  I do not think this is a very good study for anyone to use.  I can not draw to save my life.  I  do think that the picture of my left hand is better and it does show the details in my hands with the various line and creases but once again i dont think it is drawn in perfect proportion.  I would not use my dominant or non dominant hand to create anykind of drawing that I wanted someone to enjoy.  Maybe if it was a more abtrasct project and was open for intrepetation I would consider it becuase I would be able to get away with a lot more, but for a drawing of an object I can't say that I would. 

Video blog chapter 16 and 17

The first video that I choose to watch was the one on Velazquez.  I choose this video because I remembered hearing him recently mention in my Mexican history class and I was interested to learn more about him.  We did not learn much in my class other than he influenced some of the Mexican artists.  One of details that I knew from my course was mentioned in the video that Velazquez belonged to the great quartet of Spanish painters.  Velázquez was appointed to paint for King Philip the IV.  Velázquez was known to capture the moment through light and time.  Velazquez was a man with only one friend the king in which he painted for.  I was surprised when the video said he had a wife because it’s hard to meet someone when you have no friends, although in that time period it was probably an arranged marriage.  Velazquez would study the Italian artists like Michelangelo and Raphael and would come home and have deeper meaning and awareness in his artwork.  Velazquez was known as an idealist.  He had no concern for shapes and would often express character.  This relates to the book because we learn of painters who are idealists and we also learn in the book that the works of Michelangelo and Raphael would be works that were studied and mirrored by many.

The second video that I picked to watch was the Drawings of Michelangelo.  I picked this movie because he is a very popular artist and I was interested to learn of his drawings that aren’t often brought up.   The video mentions how the drawings that were done of Michelangelo were kept hidden and often destroyed by Michelangelo himself.  The video said that this was mostly because he was a perfectionist and the sketches showed him second guessing himself.  His drawings were mostly sketches of what was to be painted in the Sistine Chapel.  This video was very informative of Michelangelo’s background.  When I think of Michelangelo I do not associate drawings with his name.  This video did a great job pointing out the in depth detail and perfection that Michelangelo used in his drawings.  They used a technique to compare both the actual sculpture with his drawing to point out that his drawing was of a sculpture body and not just a body.  They even pointed out that Michelangelo would often construct his sculptures based on the angel in which a person would view it and not just on detail.  Of the videos I watched I think this one was the best.  He related to the text several times, especially when mentioning all the contour lines Michelangelo would create that would just find their way.

The third video that I watched was the one on Leonardo Da Vinci. The video talks about how Leonardo was a left handed man and would often write mirrored. I just found that fact to be odd.  Leonardo was not picked to paint in the Vatican which did upset him.  He lined up some of his jobs due to the connections his father had.  One thing that I did enjoy about this video even thought I felt it was a little slow and dry was the fact that they showed the other aspects and qualities Leonardo had.  I was unaware that Leonardo was so versatile.  Like Michelangelo he too had a lot of drawing that he did.  Leonardo was a military engineer and could build bridges and ladders.  He also could build closed chariots for fighting and catapults.  I don’t recall hearing this in the book.  Leonardo also was a city planner that would help reconstruct Italy after the plaque.  This was mentioned in the text in the Renaissance period.  He was also a scientist and inventor besides being a painter.  I liked the fact that they showed how important Leonardo was to the city and that he was not just a painter but helped with many projects.

The fourth video I watched was the one on Rembrandt.  I picked this one because I knew little on the history of Rembrandt.  I think that video did a great job in showing just how important he was to the Dutch.  The video goes on to explain how he is an icon of Dutch art.  He is most famous for his painting the Night Watch.  This was considered to be an object of Dutch pilgrimage.  The original painting had been through some tough times, it was slashed, had acid poured down it and even submerges in water.  In this painting there are several aspects that catch your eye.  One of them being that the man in front has his hand out to you like he is trying to reach out to you.  Another aspect is it is set up as a military style yet there is a girl in the back of the picture and it makes you wonder why she is there.  The video shows the importance again to the painting in the fact that they mention the arguments that would take place over the lighting of the painting to the audience to give off the best angel. There was even a committee formed in 1902 to come up with a decision.  This painting was only removed out of the museum twice by the Dutch.  It was removed once willingly for the princess and celebration and another for the war to protect it.  The video showed old pictures of the police escorts that would follow the painting.  I thought mentioning this really hit home just how important this painting truly was to the Dutch that they would hide the painting in a castle.  Rembrandt is mentioned in the text for the same reasons.

chapter 14 and 15 videos

The first video that I watched was more human than human.  One of the more interesting facts that I enjoyed was the finding of the Venus of Wilendorf.  It was an overly distorted image of women.  The thing I thought was most interesting about the sculpture was that it was originally only 10 centimeters.  This meant that it was pocket size and was for the purpose of carrying around places when the nomadic tribes movies. This particular work of art was an example in the text. Another aspect of the video I enjoyed was the tomb of Ramses VII.  The video pointed out that there was over 1000 human figures painted inside.  I thought this to be unique because of the scale that was used to keep every Egyptian human painting consistent.  I felt this related to the reading, in that the use of humans being put in the Egyptian art.  The video also mentioned the importance of hierarchy and stability in the Egyptian society; this was mentioned in the book as well as the video the way art portrayed the importance.

The second video that I watched was the one about Gothic art.  I watched this one thinking it was going to be dark and gloomy; it was not what I had expected.  One of the reoccurring themes of the video was England’s quest for identity through art.  Another topic that I found was interesting was the spread of regionalism.  My favorite sculpture of this video is the one with the knight in full armor on his horse slaying the dragon.  The amount of detail in the sculpture was tremendous.  Another reason why I enjoyed this particular sculpture was the fact that it took an unreal event and image and made it look as if it could exist.  The amount of elaborate detail that was put in the particular work of art made it seem as if slaying dragons was a normal part of a knights life.  This video references many cathedrals and their style of gothic architecture that was a man topic of chapter 15.  This video was very informative.

The next video that I watched was the one the Middle Ages.  I was shocked to learn that the medieval way of living still existed today in Camaru Africa and they even still use feudalism.    I thought that the Chitan (sorry if I butchered the name) most of been strongly built of it with hold its Islamic enemies.  I thought it was interesting that some of the nature around this fortress also helped in aiding in the protection.  The video showed people collecting venom from the snakes in present day for research.  I can imagine that back then some of the invaders were attacked by the poisonous snakes while waiting to attack.  This video also talks about the fall of the Roman Empire and how the architecture could not with stand everything that was going on around them.  They especially had a hard time trying to hold back from Attila the Hun and all of the followers that attacked on horseback.  The video also pointed out that the architecture that was built during the the Roman Empire was not defensive but decorative as well.  The Romans wanted to make a good impression on visitors for the first time coming to see them and the outside walls would be the first thing they saw.  The ending of this video goes on to talk about how the nature was started to be taken into consideration when developing new architecture.  They would incorporate natural barriers as defense mechanisms in where they would locate their fortress and example of this was mountains.  While this does relate to this chapter on Roman architecture I feel that it can also relate on a previous video we watched about Frank Lloyd Wright.  While it is a farfetched idea in a way, they both tried to incorporate their surrounding in their architecture.  I picked this video because I find the middle ages to be interesting.  I think this video was could also be used for a history class on middle ages.  It gave a lot of facts on what was happening in the middle ages.

 

The last video that I had watched was the one I found most interesting, Cataclysm- Black Death Visits Tuscany.  I picked this video because I found this topic very interesting in the past and I was interested on learning more of the plague.  This video dealt with our readings in the fact that the architecture had to be expanded to allow for new people to live within the city walls.  A problem that both Sienna and Florence had was that there were more people than food to supply them or space for them to live.  People were in a poor standing and it allowed the Bubonic plague to spread to easily.  I could probably write pages on this video because I felt it really kept me engaged and was once again very informative from a historical point of view.  This video focused a lot on the influence on the Catholic church in the Italian culture and the need for proper burial.  This was a problem in the fact that funerals could not be held up to the Catholic Church standards nor the anointing of the sick because the clergymen were some of the first to die off from the plaque.   This video also talks about a mosaic that was painted with elaborate detail about Jesus Christ.   This depiction of Christ is directly related to the readings in the rise of Christanity.

video reviews

The first video, Prairie style, I learned about an artist named Frank Lloyd Wright.  He was the founder of the prairie style architecture.  He believed that you should incorporate nature and its surroundings in your architecture.  This relates to our readings in that it has some of the similar ideas as green architecture.  Wright would use as much earth as possible to make the house and nature one. I thought this video was very descriptive about the artist and the people he influenced.  It helped me see that architecture isn’t just the building itself.

The video, architecture: science of design, taught me something the text pointed out.  It discussed how environmental factors need to be considered when creating buildings like skyscrapers.  The wind can cause buildings to sway.  One of the most interesting things about this video that I liked was the segment on smart houses.  The things that these houses are designed to do are outrageous.  I definitely enjoyed this video because it kept me engaged.  It taught me that again architecture is not just the building itself but everything inside of it.

The third video was my least favorite.  I felt it was a little dry and hard to stay focused, however it was very informative.  This video relates directly to our reading because it focuses on the Roman development of columns and arches.  I thought the Queens house was very basic in the fact everything was so precious and boxed off but at the same time it was very elaborate with the designs on the columns and the arch ways.

I choose to watch imperial Rome, ancient architecture and technology.  I picked this because I like the use of technology with architecture from the previous film.  This video again relates to the reading because it talks about the Roman architecture.  I found it remarkable the elaborate aqueduct system that was created to supply the water to various places.  It was no surprise to me that it ran directly to the palace.  I wasn’t aware that they used to get water easily from a local spring but it dried up.  I also found interesting the development of Port Ostia.  Since I go to school for history and geography this naturally caught my eye.  It made a lot of sense why this port became so important and this video did a great job explaining it.

blog comaparison

http://artonlinecourse.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2010-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2011-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=2

http://shereebates.blogspot.com/2010/10/project-2-art-gallery-visit-1.html

I thought that the artist that created the slideshow used very creative examples that were found all over his everyday life.  It felt like he took time to find these exact elements and principles.  Some of the pictures in his slideshow did she several different elements and thems.

The second project we did not pick any of the same images, however the reasons that we felt like we could relate were similar.  The person whoese blog I picked felt like that could relate to a sculpture of a mother and a child based on her own personal expeirence with her children.  I agreed on how the artist is able to form a speacial bond between themselves and the veiwer.

The sculpture of the mother and child really interests me.  I would like to know the background of the sculture because I to feel like I can relate with my own children in that way.  I would like to know what the mother is feeling in this particular artwork. 

One of the reoccuring themes in this course is that art is based on interpretation.  I think it was a great idea to veiw our peers thoughts on certain artworks.  Some of the opinions they have are not something that I would consider sometimes.  I find it interesting for them to break down how and why they feel the way they do about a certain artwork.  I think it is helpful for my learning expeirence to open up my eyes to other peoples thoughts and opinions.  By people critiqing my responses it allows me to see where they come from and to show how several poeple can look at the same artwork and have radical interpretations based on their personal background.

art gallery

I must admit I have not been to an art gallery since I was in grade school.  I enjoeyed going there and looking at the various artworks.  I did get yelled at for writing down stuff in pen, I was not aware that pen as a writing utensil was not allowed in the gallery.  One of the artworks that caught my eye was Jackson Polluck, Convergence 1952.  It was oil and canvas.   I'm attracted to artwork that looks like splatter and graffiti.   I feel like I can relate to the level of creativeness.  I liked Paul Cezanne self portrait, it was a lithograph.  The eyes in the picture felt like they were luring me in.  I liked the picture zimzam that I did not get the name of the artist because that is when the security was approaching me about writing in pen.  I liked the exhibit with the room full of the whole punched magazine clips from Vik Muniz.  It was a very simple picture from far away, just solid colors.  When I looked closely I saw that there was various words and pictures on them.  This artwork I would like to know how long that took.  It was over 1000 peices of each color and looked a lot more creative once you looked in depth to it.  One of the rooms had a displey of two apple juice boxes that did not have an artist.  I am not that educated on art but I found that odd that they were in there.  While it was startically placed, I did not feel that there was any effort involved in it.  I liked Max Backman Hotel lobby Oil on canvas.  I learned by visiting the musuem that I relaly enjoy oil and canvas paintings.  This painting caught my attention from the dark deep colors.  The man in the center really stood out to me.  I would like to know the reason he made this. 

logo

Creating this logo opened my eyes to see what I valued the most in life.  At first it was hard to start but as the thoughts kept flowing it became easier.  My finally image as you can see posted below has mi vida es me familia written in the center of the heart.  It trasnlates to my life is my family.  I outlined the heart with black to show that my heart is strong and never letting my family go.  I choose spanish because my husband and children are hispanic.  The rays of sunshine coming off the heart are in green and yellow.  This shows my pride in my Irish heritage as well as symbolize happiness.  Green and yellow are my favorite colors and represent life and energy which I believe I am full of.  I did this project in crayon to show although I have a family I am still young at heart.  I learned from all the resources that a logo should stand out.  It should be easy to copy and it should also be postive.  I think that my logo did this in creating a postive image of what I value in life.  I think that the videos were very educational.  It showed the power a logo can really have if created right.

materials

I thought creating the scale and the color wheel was a fairly easy task.   I think it brought to memory on how to work with various mediums.  I enjoyed working with the paint because it brought back the sense of creativiety i felt in my childhood that I haven't used in a while.  The most important studies in this creation I think was following directions.  I think it was important to make sure that you follow all the details so that it comes out right.  As I stated in my posts for the chapter reviews I thought the videos were a little dull.  While they did teach important facts, they were really dry and to the point.  The one video that  I uploaded did show anything, it was just audio.   I wasn't sure if it was just my computer or how it was supposed to be.

Elements and Principles

While making this project, I used the pictures I took from my trip to St Louis and from the pictures I took from a birthday party I went to with my kids.  It took me a while to actually get this posted to my blogger because when I was using photobucket, I was trying to post it directly from the site, but for some reason, it wasn't posting.  So I had to take the embed code and post it directly here.  I did my best and im pretty sure I have everything labeled and is correct.  I hope you enjoy.

video response

In the first video I watched, Aesthetics Philosophy of Arts, I learned several new things.  I wasn't aware of famous pholosophers writing books of interpretation of art.  I learned that Plato had very low opinions of artists.  He wrote a book called the republic that basically said that artist copy reality.  That they are mearly only making a copy of a copy.  I learned that Arisotle felt different.  He believed that peots were artists becuase they had to create things because they weren't possible know how they are.  I learned that over time art evolved, it used to be in the middle ages just mearily reading and not asthetics.  The first video taught me that art is an expression of emotion.  The other video,  Neurology taught me several things as well.  I wasn't aware that true art should not be realistic to attract people but rather be aesthetically pleasing.  This means that the art should apeal to the eye and exxagerate, distort and even alter to produce and image that people will like.  I also learned that there are eight laws of art that one must follow to achieve something that is aesthetically pleasing.  I did however remember learning this in a highschool art class before but the video went much more in depth

first impression

Setting up the gmail and blogger surprisnglt wasn't that hard.  It was really easy especially following the power piont instructions.  I expect to learn alot about tecnology considering this is my first time using blogger and photobucket and using a scanner on a regular basis.  I also expect to be able to put works of art to famous artists.  I also expect to open my eyes to another subject area where I have little to no expeirence. Taking this class online hopefully will help me be able to spend time with my children and work and still stay current with my class load.  I'm looking forward to being able to have some freedom on when to complete the work.