Art Gallery Visit

    My visit to the Albright Know Art Gallery was a calming, enlightening experience.  Every time I’ve gone in that past it has either been with my own children or part of a field trip with students.  It was really enjoyable to really take time to look at and reflect on the artwork as well as read about it.  I was able to take photos of the artwork down stairs.  They did ask not to photograph pieces upstairs.  I’ve included my photos from downstairs followed by the information card.  Some of the pieces from upstairs I was able to find photos online.
    Several pieces of art made an impact and impression on me.  I would have to say the most obvious were the very large acrylic paintings located upstairs.  However, I want to write about some that weren’t as obvious.  When I first passed by Black Friday by The Recycle Group, Andrey Blokhin and Georgiy Kuznetsov, I must admit I didn’t even notice it.  Then when looking at it from across the room I thought it was a marble sculpture of a biblical scene.  I headed over to read the information card.  Only after reading the artist’s name as Recycle Group, did I give the artwork another look.  Then back to the information card, where I discovered the medium was mesh!  I found this to be most impressive first of all that from a distance it appeared to be a marble sculpture and then to see the amazing detailed that was “carved” and shaped with mesh.  The pop bottles looked as though they were actual pop bottles.  Details were visible in every aspect from the flowing clothing to the shopping carts and the items in them.  Another piece that may have slid under the radar was Sol LeWitt’s Wall Drawing #1268.  Since it is not framed or hanging on a wall one may not even realize it is a piece of art.  In fact, I saw the mini model and looked over the flyer but didn’t make the connection that the wall was the same artwork in the model until after heading back down the stairs.  I find this to be impressive, not only for its almost anonymous being but the time and energy involved to create it.  Sixteen artists, 5,026 hours and 1,717 graphite lead pencils scribbling, yes scribbling, on over 2,200 square feet of wall space created a cohesive design with varying value and shape throughout. It’s amazing to think that scribbling with a pencil on a wall could create such dynamic beauty.  It’s every toddlers dream!

Black Friday

Wall Drawing #1268

    I felt my self being most connected to art work consisting of nature scenes.  I feel this is because I love the outdoors, camping, hiking and just viewing what nature has to offer.  Some of these were Emile Branchard’s Winter, John Frederick Kensett’s Coast Scene and Rodney Graham’s Welsh Oaks #1 (edition 1/2).  However, the one that I felt most connected with was Jean-Marc Bustamante’s L.P. 2000. (I was unable to obtain a photo of this piece.)  It is a color print of a gorgeous nature scene, including mountains and trees.  In the foreground there are trees that have obviously been cut with a chainsaw.  I feel connected to this because several years ago my husband and I purchased 56 acres of property.  It was so beautiful to walk this wonderful piece of nature.  However, it wasn’t very accessible so we needed to cut trees and blaze trails.  I hated cutting the trees.  Bustamante’s piece reminds me of how we as humans impact nature around us but the beauty is still there is the background. I was also drawn to a piece outside before ever entering the museum.  Jason Middlebrook’s sculpture Underlife, grabbed my attention as the sun glistened off the glass tiles.  When I stopped to admire it, the glass tiles reminded me of a craft project I made in third grade.  We glued colored glass tiles to a glass cup to make a candle holder. I still have this project.  It’s one I’ve always been proud of.  I also felt like this sculpture reminded me of tree roots which again brought me to my love of nature.

Underlife

    There were a few pieces that I would like to know more about. Cycle by Sopheap Pich was an interesting sculpture of bamboo, wire, and glue.  I’m most curious as to the motivation to this piece.  I also wonder how long it took, whether assistance was needed and how a piece like this is transported.   I would also like to know if the reason for the piece Civil Tapestry 5  by Theaster Gates was motivated by events like 911 in New York City.  I feel this piece of decommissioned fire hoses and wood is a great tribute to those who serve and and risk their lives on a regular basis for others.

Cycle

Civil Tapestry 5

Personal Logo

My Personal Logo

The design our own logo project was actually easier than I had thought it would be.  The preparation activities helped to get the process started. The most helpful tip was the idea of brainstorming a list.  I started jotting down lists about what I look like, things I like to do, and roles I play.  Then I put little sketches next to some of these words that could portray those ideas.  Several of the reading materials and videos also discussed font.  Since I was drawing this logo that seemed a little trickier.  I looked back over my list and my curly hair gave me the idea to swirl my initials. I put these in blue which is my favorite color.  I choose to use a mountain for two reasons.  I enjoy hiking, camping and outdoors but I also feel like my life is like climbing a mountain.  When I get to the top and reach my current goal I hope to be a teacher.  Therefore, I put an apple and a pencil in the hands of the figure on top of the mountain. The people on the mountain also serve two functions.  They represent my three children but also my hopes of future students.  I intend to help bring them to the top of their “life mountains” as well.  The figure on the ground at the base of the mountain represents my husband.  He is there because he keeps me grounded and supports me.  I’m really pleased with how my logo turned out.  It’s nothing flashy but it says a great deal about the person I am.  I was also able to take some time to consider who I am and where I’m heading.  The video of the company choosing a logo discussed in great detailed how they wanted it to represent what the company's image was.  They started out with a ring of fireworks and wound up with 5 red rings.  They liked how this showed the idea of action.  I thought about simplifying my design too but in the end I really liked it as is. 

My brainstorm list and logo sketches.

Color Wheel and Value Scale

    Creating my own value scale and color wheel were a bit trickier than the example videos made them out to be.  As you will see by my photo gallery of this project, I took several attempts at the color wheel with mediocre success.  I’ll admit that I was cheap when getting the paints and I feel that my magenta, yellow and cyan may not have been in the truest form. This likely affected being able to produce secondary colors accurately as well as a black through combining magenta, yellow, and cyan. The value scale took some playing around as well to make sure each step was slightly lighter than the previous one.
    I preferred working on the color wheel with the acrylic paints.  I guess I just found this to be more interesting, especially trying to get the specific colors I was looking for.  The value project felt tedious to me, coloring lighter and perfecting as I went.
    The most important discovery that came out of this study is the change of primary colors. The traditional red, blue, and yellow do not create black when blended. It was previously believed that these primary colors could not be created with any other color.  It was proven in this video, however, that red can be formed with magenta and yellow, while blue is formed from magenta and cyan.
    I felt the videos were very helpful to me for this project.  The color wheel video was very interesting and had the most important information regarding the use of the primary colors.  My daughter, who is majoring in art in high school, had never heard of the change in primary colors. She is still hesitant to believe it.  Although the value video went into more detail with their scale than I did with mine, it was still very helpful in showing the process of creating a value scale.  The little tip about the pencil point was good to know.

Check out my finished projects below.  I've also included my Photobucket album of my process.

Color Wheel using primary colors- yellow, magenta and cyan

Value Scale from black to white

Project 1 Reflection~Elements and Principles of Design

The photo project incorporating elements and principles of art using PhotoBucket was a great way to re-enforce these topics.  While scanning my house for items to snap photos of I found myself looking at things differently.  I also had to keep referring to the reading in the textbook to try to understand these concepts more.  Through this process I found that a lot of my pictures would certainly encompass more than one element or principle.  Using Photobucket was a little more time consuming than I had hoped, but presents several nice options for sharing photos digitally. Some  of my favorite element shots were shape, light, and texture.  My shape photo is a baby gate that shows distinct lines to create rectangles.  For texture, I took a close up of our fireplace broom.  I really like how this photo really shows the texture of the bristles. I showed rhythm using an upward view of my staircase.  I like how the repeated lines of the stairs shows the repetition. Finally, my favorite, is light.  My husband uses a 3D printer for work and the light emitted from this machine really looks neat in the photo.



http://s37.photobucket.com/user/Jodi_Rospierski/library/Project%201%20Module%202

http://s37.photobucket.com/user/Jodi_Rospierski/slideshow/Project%201%20Module%202?sort=3

Color Theory and Emotional Effects

    Color can bring artwork or anything else for that matter to life.  Warm and cool colors as well as intensity and value automatically evoke emotions within us.  Everything in the natural world reflects or absorbs light producing color.  The intensity and value of these hues make us feel certain ways.  The reds, oranges, and yellows of a sunset tends to stand out over cooler blues and greens causing us to feel its energy.  If the value was decreased by adding white to the colors, it may produce a more neutral calming feeling.  Certain colors also have certain responses based on culture.  For example red may make us think of a stop sign or danger.  In America, white is a color of purity.  However, in many European countries, white is a color of morning.
    The additive function, the mixing of light to produce certain colors aspect of color, is incredibly fascinating.  As an elementary student I recall learning primary colors, the color wheel, and how mixing certain colors makes new colors.  The additive principle is one unfamiliar to me.  It’s almost shocking that when red and green light are mixed the outcome is yellow and mixing all colors will actually produce white light.  There is a science behind color that is much more than mixing of paints on a pallet.
    In the video, "Color"(http://digital.films.com/play/RJ8PAN), artist June Redfern allows us to explore color and emotion with her. In her tour through Venice, I see the colors as completely different than anywhere in the states that I have been.  Those colors make me feel nostalgic in a way.  I enjoyed watching June work, her speed with changing colors, tossing the turpentine to reduce intensity, and her desire to look at the painting from outdoors to see it under different light.  She seemed to be disappointed in the initial outcome as she could not replicate the feeling she got while being outdoors by the river.  I usually look at a painting and am first off impressed.  Secondly, I have my own feelings and I guess I’ve never really considered whether the artist was able to capture the feeling they want.  I like that she states se is not a scientist.  Creating just the right color in your mind truly is a science, often of trial and error, and much more than adding some white or black, as I ignorantly may have once thought.
    In the video, "Feelings: Art and Emotion" (http://digital.films.com/play/8HLQ96), the history of art is explored in relation to color and emotion.  I think one of the most obvious effects of color and emotion discussed was that dark intensities cause a sense of depression, anger, or confusion while hues with lighter intensity have a more positive feel.  Middle Ages paintings were light using natural earthy tones showing the “picture perfect” life that everyone was expected to live with the church as the center of life.  These painting were flat with little dimension. As societies’ views of the church and life changed, so did the artwork.  Later art made use of dark hues and was more rebellious in feeling. Saturn Devouring One of His Children by Goya is an example of how color can cause these dark feelings. 

Color is also used to make paintings look more realistic adding depth or perception and dimension.  People in paintings could look like real people with the use of shading and blending values to give faces a more rounded look.  This technique, made famous by Giotto, was used to paint Bible stories.  

People were able to relate to these stories now as though they knew the people in them through the amazingly realistic paintings.  One thing that amazes me most about color in early artwork is the vast amount of hues, values, and intensities artists were able to create out of all natural resources like the red beetle and the stone lapis lazuli.  In today’s world we have so many more resources and chemicals yet the painting of the past are just as beautiful if not more impressive.

Module 2 video review

    Aesthetics: Philosophy of the Arts is a video that discusses many ideas around the philosophy of the arts.  Theories on what art truly is have been explored for centuries and have varied over the years. Plato critiqued that arts while his student Aristotle defended and studied them in his famous work, “The Poetics”.   In the Middle Ages people were dedicated to God and art as a form of beauty was not much on their minds.  However, the Renaissance brought about a huge change in the arts and the way it was viewed.  At this time German philosopher  Alexander Baumgarten coined the term aesthetics, art as a form of beauty.  People became disinterested in practical concerns and came to appreciate the arts.  I feel that I relate the most to Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher from the late 1700’s.  He believed that art is brought together by sensibility and reason.  He felt that art was an emotion, as a sense that could not be pinned down.  I agree with this in that everyone has their own view of what is art and what is seen as beautiful.  With this theory everything can be seen as beautiful to someone.
    The video, CARTA: Neurobiology Neurology and Art and Aesthetics, displayed two speakers who touched much more on the scientific aspect of art.  Changeux discussed the history of art as far back as 2.5 million years ago with the introduction of tools.  From there symmetry, symbolism and artistic composition led to what today we know as art. The brain processes art as a visual perception and then connects what is seen to internal emotions and memories. I agree with this statement.  I often find myself thinking of something specific in my life when viewing art, listening to music or reading poetry.  I think this is important to me as a future teacher.  I need to make sure my students can connect to what they are exposed to. Ramachandran had interesting ideas as to what is pleasing to the brain.  He also points out that culture does have an impact on art perceptions as well. He discussed how something exaggerated actually was more pleasing to the brain than the realistic object.  Studies have shown that rats trained to go to a rectangle for food are even more attracted to an elongated rectangle even though they were never exposed to it.  Other studies with birds and their mother’s beak proved the same.  I found these facts to be very interesting, especially that a bird would choose a rectangle stick with two red lines over the mother’s beak with one small red dot just because it was “bigger and better”.  Artists use this in their work and exaggerate body parts to draw attention and make them more pleasing.  He also discussed how the brain prefers a bit of obscurity. For example, a nude body only slightly exposed is more appealing than a Playboy pin up photo.  This video showed direct connections to the brain and art perceptions.
    The CNN article, “What the brain draws from: Art and Neuroscience”, discusses that our brains are wired to interpret art.  It can take simple lines and shapes and create beautiful images. Certain images such as faces are instantly pleasing to young babies, even just two dots and a half circle smile.  There is something instinctively in our brains causing this reaction. Artists use tricks with color, lines, shadows, and perspective to stimulate our brain.  Continuing studies are being performed to understand why and how people appreciate art.
    These videos and article have helped to further my understanding as read in the text.  They both discuss what and why artist do what they do and the connection to our brain’s reaction.  Visual examples as well as hearing explanations from experts made the text reading and samples more understandable.  The book provides many examples of art and as I looked through them my mind was focused on all the concepts discussed in the videos.