Hand Drawing-Don't judge!

As you can see, I have no artistic talent!  I feel trying to draw hands, especially for someone who has never taken an art class to learn to draw, is a much too difficult subject matter.  I chose to draw with pencil simply because it was available to me and charcoal was not, nor do I have any idea how to draw with charcoal.  Drawing with either hand was difficult for me.  Ironically it seems like the drawing of the back of my right hand, made with my non dominant left hand,  is actually better made.  Maybe this is because the back of a hand may be less intricate.  I guess to know whether or not art with my non dominant hand is a successful study I would need to try this again with a more simple subject.  Two of my children, my husband, my mother and my niece are incredibly talented in art.  I know that this is NOT a strength for me.  Therefore, I would not likely try artwork with my non dominant hand again.

Module 10 video reviews

I chose the videos on Buddhism and Hinduism because I’ve always been interested in what makes religious beliefs different.  I found the short description in the text to give a taste of what Buddhist and Hindus beliefs are but I wanted to know more. 

The text, Living with Art, states of Buddhism, that in order for one to be free they must follow a “path of moral and ethical behavior” (page 429).  The main belief is that a person can reach an enlightened state unconnected to the physical world.  This Nirvana is a release from the cycle of life and death. In doing so one would free themselves of all personal worldly desires, by finding their own way. The religion was named after  its spiritual leader Siddhartha Gautama, who was seeking to find more to life even though he had all material things and services one could desire.  He became known as Buddha

Stupas, memorial mounds, are story telling pieces of architectural art.  Story telling pictures are meticulously carved into the stone gateways surrounding the Great Stupa as well as the stupa itself showing parts of the Buddha’s life.  However, he is represented symbolically as a tree, a horse or cherub.  These carvings are similar to those that would have been completed in wood and inspired future art.  There are 5 kilometers, over 1400 in all, carvings that people would flock to in search of answers to enlightenment.  The whole thing is in the shape of a Lotus, sacred flower of Buddha.  The Lotus flower is also seen in architecture in the United States in the Chuang Yen Monastery in New York City.  There are also hundreds of Buddha cherub statues found there.  These serene temples are a representation of heaven here on Earth.

According to the text, the symbolic Buddha statue came into being as people looked for a god to pray to.  It’s ironic since Siddhartha Gautama believed that each person needed to find their own peace to move on form this world.  The video gave me a good look into what Buddhism is and how it got its roots.  The video was very calming to watch from the beautiful images to the soothing music.

The video Hinduism explored their art and architecture.  As also stated in the text, Living with Art,  the video discusses the beliefs of Hinduism. They also believe in a cyclical life of birth, death and rebirth going on and on with the goal of freedom from the continual cycle. Hindus hope to die in Varanasi to be able to end the cycle and return to heaven.  Their art and architecture is relevant to their worship of many gods.  Worship can take place any where but the temples are elaborate in decoration.  Certain temples are dedicated to certain gods, even the god of Shiva, the one who brings death.  Hindus want to let go of worldly needs and desires. The carvings and many sculptures in and around the temples portray the many gods and the stories that go with them.  A common theme is to have fantastical gods along side the common man as they are both in search of the same ultimate goal.  They first began carvings using wood and later turned to stone.  As time went on the carvings became more elaborate. The rising of the roof tops is discussed in both the text and the video. 

Hindu art also displays their tolerance of many beliefs as different gods are carved within the same piece.  Contrary to secular and many other Christian beliefs, Hindu art displays sex in an un-shameful manner, Hindus feel it shows creative love given from Brahma, god of creation, for everyone.

This video opened my eyes to how art can express beliefs as well as openness.  Hinduism seems to be open to all and the art in its sculptures portrays that.

Renaissance Video Reviews

I choose to watch Albrecht Dürer: Image of a Master because I found what I have learned about him so far through readings in our text to be very interesting.  I also feel drawn to German history as my paternal grandmother was German.  I am Lutheran and the connections to Germany and Luther also interested me. 
His talents were discovered at a very young age and lay in portraiture.  He was a German artist whose father was a skilled goldsmith.  His portraits showed feeling and emotion behind the faces and often significant objects, such as the sprig of sea holly in his self portrait.  He sent this to his arranged bride to be.  The sea holy was a sign of a suitor and an aphrodisiac.  His travels led him to use realistic landscapes in the backgrounds of his portraits. He was the first true landscape artist in Europe.  He was even able to capture emotion in his landscape pieces.  He became very famous through his prints and was able to get a high payment for his work, particularly in Venice.  He also visited many artist workshops as he traveled.  In his alter piece, The Feast of the Rose Gardens, commissioned by the church he included himself holding a paper with his initials and date.  This piece shows Venetian influence when compared with an earlier alter piece of his.   He did a lot of work with perspective through wooden prints looking for perfect form.  Back home in Nuremberg, he relied mostly on print work for his source of income.  He often made religious prints as he was a supporter of Martin Luther and the reformation.  Some of his most detailed prints were done on copper not wood.   He is perhaps known as the best print maker ever.
The text Living With Art gives much of the same information as in the video.  I like the video because it bring the information to life, adds more detail and shows many more of his pieces with valid descriptions.   I’m also pretty sure I may have seen his initials somewhere at my church.  I will be on a hunt this week.
I chose to watch Leonardo da Vinci: The Mind of the Renaissance because I find his mind to be one of both high intelligence and creativity.  He is a man I would have certainly enjoyed having a conversation with.  His intelligence and interesting mind was noticed at a very young age.  He was even able to write in a mirror image.  He was observant to everything around him. In addition to the ideal brain, he had an equally impressive physical look ad quality to him.
His contributions to the world are almost endless.  He was the first to paint a landscape as the main “subject” of a piece.  He also explored the idea of depth and realism using light.  His engineering type mind doubled with his spiritual side helped him to  be a well rounded artist and individual.  His talents opened up many opportunities such as apprenticeships and working for the Medici family, the wealthiest of Italy.  However,  he becomes involved in a trial of sodomy which he is let go from.  This turns him to a darker side for awhile as he felt alone.  There were several occasions when he is also not chosen when artists were sought out by the wealthy. Overall, he is successful in what he does, but he may not have agreed.
Even though Leonardo da Vinci was tremendously talented and intelligent, he felt as though he was uneducated and did everything he could do to learn more. As a scientist he studied machines and came up with ways to improve upon them.  Also, a musician, he was sent to the Court of Milan, where he opted to present himself as a military engineer and inventor.  His drawing of military equipment were detailed and impressive.  This knowledge was used in Venice to help ward off threats from the Turks.  He designed methods to flood the lagoon and sink enemy ships. Architecture is another talent of da Vinci as he designed many fortresses and later castles.  He also designed theatrical machines and used them in plays and other entertainment that he organized.  He worked with hydraulics as well designing a machine to dig canals.    He also studied the human body using science and medical knowledge.  He carried this information into his paintings to create more emotion. His amazing paintings got him the position of official court painter.   The subjects of his works, although simply human, appeared to be heavenly through his style.
The Living with Art text book gives a brief profile of da Vinci and discusses aspects about his work.  The video gives a more personal look at Leonardo da Vinci as a man wearing many hats.  A perfectionist, Leonardo often felt his work incomplete and did not give it to those who commissioned him.  This hurt his reputation. However, he truly was a jack of all trades, which is what the Renaissance was all about.   I found this video to be very inspiring. He was able to focus for hours without ever making a mark on the paper. Leonardo da Vinci is perhaps the most well rounded knowledgeable individual of all time.  His dedication and patience to absorb everything around him is unmatched in today’s world.  He lived an amazingly full life to the age of 67.

Mod 8 video reviews

The video More Human than Human discusses our relationships as humans with human art forms.  It speaks of the different theories for human bodies in art.  The small Female Figure statue, that was discovered in Austria, shown on page 323 in the text, is also discussed in the video as the first sign as to why humans chose to make human art unrealistic to the human body.  The text states that there may not be one simple explanation for this while the video goes into more depth.  A study of the way birds reacted to exaggerated symbols representing their needs (the red stripe study) may reveal that brains are pre-programmed to desire the exaggeration.  In the case of the small statue the motherly features and the plump body are enhanced because that is what would be desired of those peoples.  Both the text and the video discus the commonality of Egyptian art and that is did not change much over thousands of years.  In this case the image of the human body was created due to the Egyptian culture.  This may explain the obsession with human form today.  We are well aware that media today displays the human body in advertisements in the way culture thinks as desirable, thin and muscular. The Greeks felt that human bodies were based on the gods leading to the fascination with human bodies. They studied the human body to make art forms as realistic as possible for the first time in history.  Once perfected they reverted back to the inborn desire for exaggeration.  The body was then formed in statutes such as Warrior A, page 339 of the text, as being more perfect than humanly possibly.  The video goes into great detail describing the process that brought these statues about while the text simply states of their existence. I enjoyed the way the video tied all the theories together in explaining the human art form.

                 


I chose the Cairo Museum video for a few reasons.  I have always found Egyptian art to be interesting considering its amazing longevity.  I also enjoyed the Egyptian display that was at Albright Knox Art Gallery.  I learned several interesting facts about the Cairo Museum from the video.  The museum had been in existence for over 100 years and contains hundreds of thousands of artifacts of which maybe only half are on display.  The others are meticulously stored and logged carefully in the basement as well as other outside facilities.  More artifacts are being discovered on a regular basis.  They need to be extracted in a way as to not disturb how they were discovered and then they must be cleaned and restored to the best of the archeologist’s ability. These artifacts tell a history that is more than double in years to what we know here in the United States. The reading in the Egypt section of the text discusses some of the oldest artwork that has been discovered.  Most of the pieces in the video resembled the items from the text.  There were statues of leaders, “stories” embossed on walls and gold/leather clothing.  The prized possession of the architect in the video was the statue of the priest Kai which strongly resembles the Seated Scribe on page 330 of the text.  These videos are very informative and add information that is not in the text.  It is interesting to see a glimpse of how the artwork is cleaned and restored.

Mod 7 Architecure video review

   

        
         This architecture topic has been most interesting to me thus far because my husband and I plan to build a home in the next few years. I started with the Prairie Style (Frank Lloyd Wright) video mainly because he is an architect I’ve heard of but realized I don’t know much of anything about, other than what the text has to say. The title Prairie Style also caught my attention because, as I have mentioned, I love nature.  It turns out that this video was very informative and interesting for me.  I learned that Frank Lloyd Wright’s style featured many of the concepts I like.  He incorporates nature which appealed to me immediately.  He liked a building to be a part of the landscape not standing out from it.  The use of many and large windows as well as low horizontal lines also creates a cohesive design with nature.  Inside, there are  low ceilings, a central fireplace and open spaces, which was quite different from the small rooms of the Victorian style of the time.  His style has been adapted over the years by many architects.  He called himself the most successful architect of all times and is arguably correct. The reading in the text discussed the original challenge of raising four walls and a roof on top.  Wright’s design style features an almost floating type roof creating the challenge of how to make the building stable. I enjoyed learning more about the Prairie Style and Frank Lloyd Wright and it added to the information from the text.  According to the text he had very little formal education, which truly makes his ingenuity even more impressive.  When planning our future home we’ve discussed our desires for open floor plan, central fireplace, and large open windows.  We also want to be as energy efficient as possible which is why I chose to watch, Last Call for Planet Earth: Sustainable Development and Architecture.
    Sustainable Development, also referred to as Green Architecture, is discussed in the text as well as in the video Last Call for Planet Earth: Sustainable Development and Architecture.  The video discusses some of the same ideas including the rooftops with natural green space for insulation and rainwater absorption.  The video went into great detail of ways to help preserve the Earth through the better use of natural resources.  Some of the ideas I loved and hope to use in my own home are heating and cooling through the use of insulated flooring, well insulated windows and venting the outside air through the floor as opposed to the traditional method through the roof.  The use of windows allows more light to enter also reducing the need to electrical lighting.  Other neat ideas were the use of greenery for air circulation as well as temperature control.  Concepts such as zero waste and multiple uses for buildings was also explored. I found it interesting that most of the steps toward using green architecture seem to be taking pace in Europe.  I heard little mention of the US, other that upstate New York (kind of exciting) and LA, California. The video interviewed many different architects giving several viewpoints.  All in all it seems as though it is a work in progress. Little changes like recycling, use of renewable resources and energy efficient design are helpful but in the end more may be needed.  The man from China had an interesting point, although I can’t say if a fully agree.  He pointed out that reform there may take place faster because it is required, whereas here it would be up to each individual to make the choice.  Of course with that choice there comes an economic cost that some may not be able to afford.  I liked how one of the architects pointed out that he likes to work with artists because they first see society.  In other words they want to keep the landscape as is as much as possible.

   

Blog Review

This Blog review assignment was a bit of a challenge and often frustrating.  I first went to the Blog listed above my name (http://wouj.blogspot.com/) and I reviewed and commented on the Module 2 post.  Then I realized that was not the post to comment on and the posts I did need to review were not there.  So as the directions stated I picked another Blog to review.  Here, http://www.chelseareneeartjourney.blogspot.com/2014/02/https500.html,  I was able to find Project #1 using Photobucket.  I read her Blog and reviewed her Photobucket slideshow.  It was well done with each photo explained.  Unfortunately, Project 2 with the Art visit Blog was not done.  Off I searched to another Blog.  I finally found a really interesting Blog (http://cofagrigus.blogspot.com/2014/02/project-1-elements-and-principles.html)  with both projects complete, for the most part.  The trouble now is when I went back to this Blog my comments for project #1 were not there and I had to respond again.  Low and behold when I responded again, my first post was there!!  I tried to find another Blog with both project done.  Success!  http://ginaisart.blogspot.com/?view=flipcard  My posts were there, however as it appeared twice I deleted one (I thought).  It deleted my post and I had to redo.  So now my posts are either there twice the same, twice different or showing up as deleted!

In all honesty, I feel the requirements for this class may be a bit much and overwhelming for many of us.  I realize it is a college online course worth 3 credits and therefore the workload will not be light.  However, I have taken close to a dozen online courses and in class courses.  The time I spend on this course, which is not in my major, takes up more time than all other courses combined. I work full time, take classes full time, parent three teens, help run volleyball and gymnastics teams, teach Sunday School and chair a Nursery School Board among other things.  I know these are my choices but my point is that I have completed all my assignments.  This project took me longer to complete due to others lack of completing assignments.  I also feel that I have been unable to put the best effort into this course as I am just trying to get it all done. I don't get to edit and proof read to the extent that I would like ( please pardon my errors) or add extras like I prefer to do.  I don't feel I'm doing my top quality work.

I hope my honesty is not held against me.  I may be feeling a bit stressed as I had to miss a book club with friends today and virtually ignored my children and husband while working on Module 6 all day, literally.  I'm done for now and free to read my book, assigned of course, for another class.

Me right now, maybe ice cream will help!!

Module 6 Video Reviews

    The video Through the Eyes of the Sculptor was very informative.  I learned some key concepts that I had not necessarily obtained from the reading of the text and I was able to relate ideas from the text to the video.  When the video showed any of the clips of carvings from stone I knew that was the subtractive methods as described in the text. The video also showed the use of molds for casting as described in the text.   Several new concepts were learned from the video. I learned from the video was how an artist needs to be cautious when choosing stone for a piece.  It is important to consider size and stability. They know a stone will be stable by listening to the stone while tapping it with a hammer.  This will tell them if there are possible cracks.  They also need to consider the direction of the grain of the stone in relation to the finished sculpture.  A sculpture often begins first as a pencil sketch, then the additive method of modeling the idea out clay.  It is often molded from plaster before finally sculpting from stone.  Depending on size a piece may not be completed until it is placed in its final location.  Anchors need to be left in place for transportation and carved out when it reaches its destination. Sculptors make use of points and lines to help them determine where the space they need and the space they need to remove in the bulk stone.
    I enjoy the videos as they are helpful in being able to visually see the concepts that are described in the reading.  The videos also teach many concepts through visual and auditory means not found in the reading.  I found it interesting to learn how rock like marble is formed from limestone deep under the sea and rising up to the mountains.  It’s amazing to see how such large stones were quarried and transported in the past with no help of modern technology.  Even more amazing is that it seems that stone sculptures were more popular then, even though today’s world would allow for easier obtaining and sculpturing of rock.  The video shows modern day sculptures using power tools.  This also leads to an appreciation of sculptures created when such luxuries didn’t exist. Many times more than one artist works on each sculpture to craft the final master piece.  Most of the information in the videos would be difficult to explaining in words through the readings in the text.



    The video Glass and Ceramics discusses many key factors.  The text reading describes the basic formulation of glass from sand and methods of glass artistry while the video really brings the process of its formation and uses to life.  Key concepts include how glass is created from a scientific standpoint.  It also discusses ways in which glass can be heated and molded as well as etched while cold.  Stain glass artistry is discussed in the text.  However, seeing and hearing the process in the video makes it easier to understand.  A new use for glass is in the world of architecture.  It is not only used for aesthetics but thermal energy efficiency and acoustic functions which actually helps keep heat in.  The video shows the function and creation of safety glass such as laminated or tempered glass.  These keep the glass together when shattered.
    The video relates glass to ceramics and its relationship to heat.  Ceramics are clay based and heated and hardened to form ceramic.  The text discusses several methods in which clay can be shaped and molded as well as some uses for clay.  The video better discusses the differences in heat affecting the outcome of the clay.  Higher heat will make a fine china while lower heat is more suitable for bricks.
    Ceramics, like sculpturing, also makes use of molds, as explained in the text.  This process is shown well in the video. It also describes how this can help with producing many of that same piece, as used with dishes.
    There are several uses for ceramics not discussed in the text.  It is used in the medical world, as used in hip replacement surgeries.  It is also used in car engines for efficiency and even rocketry. 
    I find these videos helpful as they show concepts discussed in the text but also offer many new ideas not offered by the text.  Learning additional information adds to what was read and allows me to relate the two sources of information to achieve deeper understanding.