Thursday, August 11, 2011

Reflections of AED200

1. What were you expectations for this course and where they met?
Starting this course I expected it to be challenging but rewarding, and this is exactly what the course ended up being. The course is very demanding, but it is an online course so that was expected. However the projects stirred up ideas in me and kept things interesting.

2. Now that you've been through this course, What is art? How would you define it now compared to your intial posting?
My definition of art in my first posting still holds true at this point. I had said I defined art as something visually appealing but that it could mean different things to every viewer and that not all people were going to like it. I still stand by my definition and I feel that this course has even proved my definition even further.

3. Who was your favorite artist in your original posting and who is your favorite visual artist now? If there is a difference, why do you think so? If you have the same favorite artist, why do you think so?
I am still unsure about who my favorite artist is! I still like the Renaissance and particularily Jan van Eyck, however now I have been introduced to more art and now like lots of things instead of just a few favorites!

4. Now that you've completed this course, how do you feel about taking an online course? Is your answer the same as it was in your first posting? How is it the same or different?
As I said in my first posting, online courses are demanding, but that is expected since there is no designated class time to get things done in. Online courses make it easy to gain credits though, especially if you work full time in the summer and can't go to a class on campus, or if you want to take 6 classes during the semester but don't have time to go to all on campus.

Critique Blog

1. Which projects did you review?
I reviewed Katie Lynn Raiser's "The Feeling it Brings"

2. Why did you select the Exhibit you critiqued?
I looked at almost ten exhibits and this is the one I felt I could connect with the most, and that was the most interesting to me because I could understand fully what it was about. There were many exhibits that I didn't understand the concept of their theme and just felt lost looking through the exhibit, but Katie's was not like that at all.

3. What challenges did you face in writing the critique article and how did you overcome them?
I had a hard time critiquing the exhibit in general because I enjoyed it a lot. I don't like to hurt people's feelings so I didn't want to be mean about anything. I would be a terrible critic! I overcame this by focusing on the good things and just offering a little advice about things that I was confused on.

4. How do you feel about critiquing your peers work?
It is interesting, but like I said I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings so I have a hard time finding the right things to say.

5. Would you like to read the critique your peers wrote about your Art Curation Project?
Yes of course, I am always intersted in what others have to say about my work. I would be nervous though that someone might say something rude.

6. On a scale of 1-10 how would you rate your finished article and why?
I would rate it an 8, I think I did pretty well I am proud of it but because I am not a rude person I think it lacks character that other critic's work has.

7. Did you enjoy working on this project?
I enjoyed this project, it was very time consuming but that is understandable since it is such a large portion of our grade. It was interesting and has kept me on my toes the entire time.

Self Portrait


Peter_Fox_Big_Self_Portrait.jpg
Peter Fox Big Self Portrait 2009 acrylic on canvas

Laura K Aiken Self Portrait 2009

Chuck Close Self-Portrait 1999

I chose these three pieces for insipration because after looking at many self portraits, I liked that even though these were abstract and distorted, you could still tell who the person was. Growing up I never liked getting my picture taken, I am a lot better about that now, but I decided to still draw upon that feeling and create a self portrait that distorted the image of me so I could in a way hide, but it could still be recognized as me. I created my self portrait using digital media because I am working overtime this week so I didn't have much extra time to create a painting, but I have access to a computer all day and was able to work on it during my breaks. I took a picture of myself, and then used a program to edit and apply many filters to it until I had a final image I was pleased with. This took a little while because I thought I had a final image many times but then decided to start over again and do different things to the image. I ended up with a few final images and then chose one to be the image for this project.  I think this piece represents me because I am a shy person, so the distortion gives me a screen to hide behind. Also the piece is colorful, and I am a lively person so I feel it captures my spirit. The elements of color and texture are the most obvious in my portrait, but I also believe that line makes an appearance as well just not in such a blatently obvious way; it has been distorted. I thought this project was fun, it was difficult to decide what I wanted to do at first, but I found great examples to inspire me. My ideas kept changing, but they were progressive changes that led me to my final product. I am very happy with my self portrait, I would consider doing this project again in the future, there are so many possibilities!


Emily Krolewicz Self Portrait 2011


Wednesday, August 10, 2011

week 11 videos

Greenber on Art Criticism- This video compared art and music criticism, I found it very interesting and learned that it is easier to interpret music because the artists feelings seem to radiate from the song itself, whereas with art you have to interpret it on your own subjectively. This is helpful to the art criticism project because it teaches me that I have to do more than just look at the art, I have to search for the meaning or aspects that are interesting.

Renaissance- This video talked about how artists in the renaissance developed as they did because they studied the artists that were great before them and learned from them. This is helpful to our portrait project because we can draw insipration from artists for our self portrait.

Jackson Pollock- This video talked about Pollock's work and how he was a master painter, but also how his art shows a low point in modern art. This video showed exactly how art criticism works, some people might think one thing, while others think the opposite. This was helpful to our project in showing how critics have viewed things in the past.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Art Curation Project reflection

This project was fun but challenging. I knew what I wanted to right away (More than Meets the Eye), but was having trouble finding images that were cohesive and also enough images. The idea came from a project I did in high school where we used words of emotion that described a picture to create value, by overlapping the words. I had the idea that from far away it looks like just another picture, but as you get closer and see that there is text and read it, you get a different feeling for the work and get involved in the emotions and have a new connection with the work. I wanted to find more images out there like mine at home to show how we see images all the time in life, but how artists can make those images about more than what we just see on the surface.

I found enough pictures for the project, but realized there would be no cohesion in my exhibit and that viewers would get bored. I brought this to attention in the discussion forum, and Professor Tabone suggested that I find images of similar nature to compare my chosen images to. This idea was great and I think by using it I created a new interest in my piece. Instead of just being a jumble of images with a similar background, it became more of a challenge to viewers to see the differences and compare and relate them to their own lives and take what they could from it.

I think my exhibit turned out really well. It took a long time to put it together, but the final result is good I think. I chose a gallery space that was wide open so it would allow a maximum amount of viewers to see each section but not be over crowded. The walls are divided into niches, in which each pair of images would go, side by side so viewers could compare. I think this will have a great effect, since each pairing will be essentially in its own little world.

Although this project was challenging, I had a fun trying to complete it. I can't imagine how difficult it must be to put together an exhibit in real life. I'm not sure I want to find out either, I was stressed just trying to complete a power point exhibit! I have a new appreciation for art exhibits and won't just look at them as paintings on walls anymore, but will be able to view the gallery as an entire space created with purpose.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Curation videos

Lowdown: This video was about the style called "lowbrow" which is art that is "lacking in taste". I thought of art like this to be sort of like the urinal we saw in the last set of chapters, hard to consider it art. As you look further into it and learn more though the pieces begin to stand out as art because you have a better sense of it. Some people who like this style say they find it easier to relate to than traditional art, I think this is probably because they sometimes have everyday relateable objects in them, or are made my people they can relate to better than an 18th century painter.

Modern Art: This video showed how the art of displaying art evolved and how art came off the walls at a certain point and actually into the viewers plane. It talked about how the Tate museum organizes the art in their galleries in ways that would be interesting to the viewer, as in sticking a piece somewhere it doesn't seem to fit, so it would catch the viewers attention.

Contention: This video talked about how if a Native American body is found, historians study the remains to learn about their people, whereas if a caucasian body was found they would just bury it. It ended saying that many native American bodies are now being returned to their families instead of being picked over by scientists. I don't think this was really related to art, however it was very interesting and made me question many things.

Eastman: This video was about George Eastman who was considered to have started photography. They went inside his house which is now a museum and talked about all the original pieces there. I was surprised to know that they had 140,000 pictures from his collection online.

The video that helped me the most with this curation project was Modern Art, because it gave me new ideas of ways to organize an exhibit. I never though about all the work that goes into galleries before, I have a new appreciation for it now. Also the video about the lowbrow style was helpful because it shed light  on how different types of work can be considered art to many.

Saturday, July 30, 2011

postmodern videos

Andy Warhol- I chose this video because he is a very popular artist, and I am familiar with his work. My uncle went to the Warhol museum and said once that Warhol was very messed up and he didn't like his artworks, so I wanted to learn more about Warhol and see for myself what I think about him. The video didn't really show him as being too nuts, so I decided that I still like him, unlike my uncle. The most interesting part for me was about how he made a lot of screen prints, because I am currently in the middle of screen printing here at home and it gives me inspiration.

Hockney- I had never heard of this artist before, but I enjoy photography so I decided to give him a shot. I really enjoyed the video and learning about the collages Hockney made out of poloroids. I find poloroids to be very classic and I love the way he put the piece together. I liked that this video concentrated on the artist and his process', I haven't seen that in many of the videos I have been watching this summer (maybe I have been choosing the wrong ones!).

Both the videos make the information in the book moer concrete in my mind. The end.