Blog Entry Assignment 4

Visual Culture

Many people associate Mickey Mouse with colors like red, yellow, black, and white. When people think of these colors, they think of entertaining Disney characters. The color principles that make artist David Willardson's Mickey Mouse painting stand out among other works in the same medium are the hues that are used to make the image stand out and the triadic color scheme of red, yellow, and blue. Blue is typically not used in the image of Mickey Mouse but here it is used to show light in the eyes and on the ears.

This work differs from other works by Willardson because before he was known for doing movie posters like for "Raiders of the Lost Ark". These posters did not have the same energetic colors and playful painting style that Willardson used for his Disney character paintings. Willardson uses dominance in his painting with Mickey Mouse. The way that the mouse is placed on the page is very interesting because he goes beyond the boundaries of the page. Willardson addresses the human form with Mickey's eyes and smile. The way the eyes are accented with the blue are similar to the way light hits a person's eyes and highlights them.

I have been influenced by this piece in the sense that it reminded me of the original version of Mickey Mouse back in the 1930's. Back then, he was in black and white and was not well known as he is now. It really made me think about how far animation has come to create the Mickey everyone loves today. The symbol of Mickey Mouse has been manipulated over the years with the advancement of technology and now this Disney character is known by everyone.

This art piece is called "National Suicide" and was made by Greg Gossel. When thinking about Uncle Sam, people automatically refer to the colors red, white, and blue because he represents America. However, this image is different from the typical Uncle Sam recruitment poster. This image uses very dull colors: light pink, blue, and yellow. These colors are very dull and saturated because they were mixed with white, gray, and black.

The collaging and overlapping of all of the elements, make Uncle Sam, who is in the middle, stand out. The fact that these dull colors are different from the colors that are used in the original Uncle Sam propaganda art, makes this piece more original and unique. This Uncle Sam piece seems to be the only political piece that Gossel made. All of his other pieces are pop art and use the same overlapping of images and words like "power" and "attack". I believe that this art piece is the only one that deals with war. The dominant figure in this composition is Uncle Sam who is in the middle. The other figures appear to be accentual because they are in saturated colors like light pink and yellow while Uncle Sam stands out in white. Gossel addresses the human form by painting Uncle Sam's face and putting the face of the woman all around the composition.

I have never seen propaganda art collaged like this before. Whenever, I think of Uncle Sam, I visualize the recruitment poster with him pointing at you. This piece makes me see the symbol of Uncle Sam in a different way because instead of him pointing, he has his finger in front of his mouth. This completely changes the meaning of the art. It appears as if he is keeping quiet about the serious issue of war.

Fashion Design

This fashion design drawing was created by artist Justine Limpus Parish. This drawing makes analogous colors like blue, violet, and violet-red appear very dark and depressing. The girl wearing the dress in this piece appears Gothic which when looked at, makes people associate Goth with dark colors. Most fashion drawings are gesture sketches of the people and the clothes they are wearing. However, this drawing is not a gesture piece but looks very complete with lines that are very clean and precise.

This work is different from other drawings by Parish in the sense that her other drawings are very messy and are gesture drawings. They do not have as much color and intensity as this particular piece. Also, her other works do not show any type of emotion like this one does. This drawing has a very gloomy feel to it but has some sex appeal to it as well. Since there is only one figure in this composition, the woman in the dress is the dominant figure. The dress going off the page makes the viewer wonder what the rest of the dress looks like. Typical fashion design drawings show the whole outfit in order to visualize what the piece will look like when it is made. This drawing appears to only serve an artistic purpose.

Parish addresses the human form with the pose that the girl is doing in the drawing. The way that the girl is standing and the way she has her hand over her mouth gives this piece a sense of mystery. It makes the audience wonder what she could be hiding and what she is looking at since she is the only thing in the drawing. Before, I never thought of fashion design as art. I always thought of it solely as a way to make clothing and nothing else. This drawing shows that clothing can be a form of art. It just depends on how the person wearing the art will show off the clothing. In this piece, the girl wears the dress in a very dark and dramatic way and conveys this with her body language.



This fashion art piece is called "Mangandroid Babe" by Dominic Elvin. This piece is a combination of fashion design, art, and robotics. Elvin uses color to mix fashion design with robotics. The red that is used in this image is very chromatic and makes the model look very futuristic. The little shield that that is covering the model's eye will make her see everything in red which will change her perception and understanding of the color. This image is very monochromatic with red being used on the bracelet, collar, and eye piece. Pink can also be seen in the background. Having this image be monochromatic and appear futuristic makes it a lot different from other fashion design pieces. This work is different from Elvin's other art pieces in the way that he uses a human model in this image and mannequins for his other pieces. In this image, the human model portrays his futuristic and robotic vision of what people could possibly be wearing in the distant future. Also, in his other works, Elvin likes to manipulate and distort the human body to make it look more robotic.

Dominance can be seen in the gear that the model is wearing because of the high intensity of the color red. Also, it is the wristband, the collar, and the eye piece that are meant to stand out and be the area of focus because that is what the image is about: the future of fashion. Elvin addresses the human form every time he makes these robotic fashion pieces. Essentially, the purpose of these pieces is for a person to be able to wear them, so Elvin had to really think about the human form and how this clothing would look on a person. Also, he needed to think about what sort of impression he wanted to make on his audience with these pieces. In my opinion, Elvin's art work is very innovative and interesting because I have never really seen fashion from a futuristic perspective. This image has shown me how much machines and electronics in general have influenced society and our culture not just with the use of computers but in fashion as well.

History of Art

Van Gogh's painting "Starry Night" is famous for its mixture of colors to portray the crystal clear night sky. When people think about this famous painting, they associate real stars with the chromatic yellow and orange colors seen in the painting. In "Starry Night," Van Gogh uses colors that are at their highest intensity (chroma) like the blue in the sky and the yellow that makes the moon and stars give off a glow. What makes this painting stand out from other impressionistic paintings is the visual texture that is produced by the thick, free flowing brush strokes seen in the sky of the painting. This work differs from other works by Van Gogh in the sense that the idea behind this piece has a bigger significance to the artist than the other landscapes that he painted. When painting this scene, Van Gogh was thinking about God and that when people are at their worst in life, they are never alone. The swirls in the sky are meant to represent the presence of God.

I feel that there are two figures fighting for dominance in this painting: the large trees to the left and the very bright moon to the right. The trees appear to be dominant because of their very large size. The moon is dominant as well not because of its size, but because it is the brightest figure in the composition and catches the viewer's eye right away because its colors are very chromatic. I do not believe that Van Gogh addressed the human figure in this piece but he did think about a person's environment and what they would see if it was night. After looking at this famous painting, I wanted to know more about what Van Gogh was thinking when he created it. After doing some research, I discovered that he painted this when he was suffering from a disease. Looking at this night sky made him realize that God was by his side and the evidence was in the night sky. After learning this, "Starry Night" became more than just a beautiful painting of different colors. I was able to look at this piece in a different way through the eyes and perspective of the artist who created it.

ArtsXpose 4

NAME: Margarita Vilshanetskaya

artsXpose

Title of Event

Opening Reception of the Dorothy Uber Bryan Gallery: Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition

Date & Time of Event

April 11, 2007 7:00-9:00pm

Location of Event

Fine Arts Center

Type of event (Only the events listed below fulfill the artsXpose requirement):

Please Bold and Underline the event attended:

Visiting Artist Lectures Exhibition* (non-course related)

Films** Plays

Arts Related Field Trips Recitals***

Poetry / Literary Readings Arts Related Conferences

Arts Related Symposia, discussion/reading groups or workshops

Attendance of Art Club Meeting****

*Exhibition visits must not be course-related (for example, if we visit an exhibition as a class you may not count this exhibition as an artsXpose event.

**Films must be part of a Univ. dept. sponsored film series—Not films sponsored by the Student Union.

***University Sponsored Recitals only.

****Clubs may only count as one event regardless of the number of clubs or the number of meetings attended during a term

1.) Provide a brief detail-oriented technical description or summary of the event you attended. This section should remain journalistic and should not be reflective of your opinion.

The opening reception of the art gallery consisted of art works done by artists who have received a Masters in Fine Arts. Some of the artists who displayed their work include Colin Goldberg , Jess Benjamin, and Joseph Lombardo. Artist Colin Goldberg displayed his art work called “Hand/Eye”. These pieces were acrylic paintings of hands with an eye in the middle. With his art work, he stressed the importance of computers in the process of making his art. He used a computer to scan the marker drawings which were then put on the canvas with color. Then they were painted over with acrylic. Artist Jess Benjamin displayed a different form of art. She created three-dimensional structures called “Dam Nebraska”. Her pieces were inspired by the jackstones that were the concrete tetrahedrons that supported the Kingsley Dam in Nebraska. She showed several of these jackstones and placed them in a specific order to show each one deteriorating more and more. Artist Joseph Lombardo displayed several paintings of cars in parking lots. He had over sixty paintings of cars displayed at the gallery.

2.) Use the section below to write a well-structured paragraph focusing on your personal critical insight / response to the event. How did you interpret or react to what was presented to you?

Looking at each one of these artist’s works allowed me to see things from the perspectives of the artists. I thought it was very interesting how Joseph Lombardo took an idea as simple as cars parked in a lot and created a work of art out of it. Also, making over sixty paintings of nothing but cars in a parking lot must have taken some great patience and commitment to the project. His paintings made me realize how much the world’s landscape has become nothing more than just pavement. Jess Benjamin’s three dimensional structures looked like nothing I had ever seen before. I could definitely tell that this work reflected something that Benjamin was passionate about and in this case it was the problem of drought in the Great Plains of Nebraska. Colin Goldberg’s paintings were my favorite pieces out of everything that was being displayed. His pieces caught my attention because I felt he had the most original idea out of all the art works in the gallery. All of the colors and patterns were executed very well in his paintings.

3.) What information, ideas, images, etc. most impressed you and why?

Artist Colin Goldberg’s paintings called “Hand/ Eye” impressed me the most because of the way he produced these pieces. My first impression of his art work was that they looked very well painted. I would have never guessed that he used technology to help make these pieces. Another thing that impressed me was Joseph Lombardo’s car lot paintings. When I looked at his paintings, I noticed that many of them were set in the winter, in the summer, and at night. I was very impressed to see how much dedication this artist had to his vision because it looked like it took him a year at least to make these paintings. I felt that the hard work definitely paid off for all of these artists because their final pieces looked very well done.

4.) Overall, how would you rate this event (10 being the most worthwhile)?
(10 / 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 / 5 / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1 )

5.) Justify your rating in the question above:

Over all, I had a great time walking around the gallery and seeing all of these great pieces of art. It made me look forward to the future when I would get my chance to show my art work in a gallery after I graduate. I rated this event a nine because it was nice to see all of the artist’s interpretations of the world with their displayed art work. However, I wish the gallery would have displayed more pieces by other artists because I really wanted to see more art. I felt like there was more two dimensional art than three dimensional pieces. I would like to have see more three dimensional structures.

ArtsXpose 3

NAME: Margarita Vilshanetskaya

artsXpose

Title of Event

Tea Time with Anthony Fontana

Date & Time of Event

Friday, January 25, 2008 3:30 pm

Location of Event

ceramics room- art building

Type of event (Only the events listed below fulfill the artsXpose requirement):

Please Bold and Underline the event attended:

Visiting Artist Lectures Exhibition* (non-course related)

Films** Plays

Arts Related Field Trips Recitals***

Poetry / Literary Readings Arts Related Conferences

Arts Related Symposia, discussion/reading groups or workshops

Attendance of Art Club Meeting****

*Exhibition visits must not be course-related (for example, if we visit an exhibition as a class you may not count this exhibition as an artsXpose event.

**Films must be part of a Univ. dept. sponsored film series—Not films sponsored by the Student Union.

***University Sponsored Recitals only.

****Clubs may only count as one event regardless of the number of clubs or the number of meetings attended during a term

1.) Provide a brief detail-oriented technical description or summary of the event you attended. This section should remain journalistic and should not be reflective of your opinion.

Art professor Anthony Fontana spoke of his past and current works he has produced throughout his life. Some of his past works include a series of paintings that have a sexual theme to them. His more current works include his graphic novel called The Dogs set in Cleveland and his work with Second Life. In Second Life, Anthony produced his own virtual reality character and shows how his character interacts with the virtual environment. In his new machinima for Second Life, Anthony added many of his own art pieces to Second Life and explained how each of his art pieces have affected his virtual self and transformed his face and body into its own work of art. When he showed all of his art work, he said that he was not a master of just one area but enjoyed doing a little bit of everything when it came to making art. He takes pride in doing his own projects and enjoys being his own boss.

2.) Use the section below to write a well-structured paragraph focusing on your personal critical insight / response to the event. How did you interpret or react to what was presented to you?

I felt that Anthony did a great job presenting all of the information he wanted to share in such a short amount of time. Even though he already presented most of his art works in my 2D foundations class, I learned a lot more about the professor that was going to be teaching me the basics of 2D art. Actually seeing his earlier and current works showed that he was very talented in not just one area of art but in many areas. I really enjoyed hearing about his graphic novel and would like to read it in its entirety. Also, I was really surprised to hear that the novel was not published yet because I felt that it was a very original idea. His involvement with and dedication to Second Life shows me how important this learning virtual environment is to him.

3.) What information, ideas, images, etc. most impressed you and why?

I found all of Anthony’s works impressive because it seems that he is good at everything he does from painting, drawing scenes for his graphic novel, writing the story for the novel, and working with Second Life to make a new identity for himself. This was the first time I had ever heard of Second Life so it was very interesting to learn about this virtual world where people can have avatars that interact with one another and live in this new environment that is completely different from the real world. Another thing that impressed me was the concept behind the characters of The Dogs. I have never heard of people dressing up as animals and calling themselves “The Fuzzies”. Also, it was interesting the way that Anthony depicted these characters in the novel. In some of the images, he drew the characters wearing their animal masks but he also added images of them as if they were really animals. He showed the characters’ points of view of what was happening in the story very well.

4.) Overall, how would you rate this event (10 being the most worthwhile)?
(10 / 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 / 5 / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1 )

5.) Justify your rating in the question above:

Anthony’s lecture about his past and current works was very interesting because I was able to get a better look on what kind of artist he is outside of what I see in the classroom. I did not give this lecture a ten because I felt like Anthony was being rushed since tea time only lasted an hour. Also, I would have liked to know more about his comic book The Dogs because I felt that this was a great accomplishment for him that should be acknowledged. I am sure more people would like to know about this work and more about how he came up with the idea behind the story line.

Image Essay 10

This ink and acrylic painting was made by artist Jeff Schlanger. Many of his pieces are influenced by jazz music. The color scheme that is apparent in this painting is a triadic color scheme. Schlanger uses the three primary colors: red, blue, and yellow. Blue can be seen on the musicians, red on the instrument, and a touch of yellow in the faces and background. This composition is very asymmetrical. The manner in which Schlanger splattered and unevenly distributed the paint gives the image a lot of visual texture. Also, the splattered paint might make the viewer feel the chaos of this painting. it is as if you can hear the music playing just by looking at the arrangement of the colors. This composition appears to be a gesture painting because the musicians and their instruments are not made of smooth, crisp lines. I feel that the area of focus is the viola and the musician’s face because the red pops out and is at its highest intensity which makes it very chromatic. This musician also has the most detail out of the entire composition which can also catch the viewer’s attention. In this painting, Schlanger experiments with line thickness and thinness. The thick lines that make up the piano and chair contrast the thin lines of the viola and the bow.

Image Essay 9

This Harry Potter book cover is a perfect example of using a monochromatic color scheme. Different values of blue are being used. Shades of blue can be seen on Harry’s robe as well as in the background in the doors. Tints of blue can be seen in the candles and the flames. Blue and its various shades and tints are being used to convey a certain emotion or a certain atmosphere for the audience. Now the stereotypical response that most people have towards the color blue is sadness and depression. This is what most people have been taught to believe. Everything we have been taught about color is incorrect. Looking at this particular illustration, the blues that are being used give a sense of mystery and evil that is yet to come in the story. With all the different shades of blue, a viewer may feel a chill because the color blue makes people refer to a cold temperature. In the illustration it looks like there is wind blowing the flames to the left which also may make the audience feel a chill. The way this composition is arranged is very interesting. The main character Harry and the candles are in the foreground and the doors are in the background. A viewer would definitely get a sense of depth with this image because of the overlapping of elements. The candles overlap the character that overlaps the doors in the background. Also, repetition can be spotted with the doors. The pattern is broken with the far left door being more ajar than the others.

Image Essay 8

This particular composition is a perfect example of how color can make an audience feel a certain temperature coming from the art work. This painting makes the viewer feel the heat and dryness of the landscape because of the warm color scheme. The painting consists of very warm hues like yellow, orange, red, and yellow orange. These colors are all analogous colors. The rocks are dominant because they are the closest to us. The rock structure is in the foreground while the mountains are in the background. The overlapping of the tree branches and mountains give the composition the sense of depth. No pure colors are visible at their highest intensity. The orange and yellow were mixed with gray, white and black for the ground and the mountains. The shading in the mountains and rocks makes them look like they have more texture. Also, the shading makes the the landscape look more three dimensional and not as flat on the page. The viewer’s eye moves very well around the page in a circular motion. The eye would move from the rocks around to the structure. Then the eye would follow the branches to the mountains and back around to the rocks.

ArtsXpose 2

NAME: Margarita Vilshanetskaya

artsXpose

Title of Event Zack Petroc Lecture

Date & Time of Event April 4, 2008 7:00pm

Location of Event Room 204 Art History Room

Type of event (Only the events listed below fulfill the artsXpose requirement):

Please Bold and Underline the event attended:

Visiting Artist Lectures Exhibition* (non-course related)

Films** Plays

Arts Related Field Trips Recitals***

Poetry / Literary Readings Arts Related Conferences

Arts Related Symposia, discussion/reading groups or workshops

Attendance of Art Club Meeting****

*Exhibition visits must not be course-related (for example, if we visit an exhibition as a class you may not count this exhibition as an artsXpose event.

**Films must be part of a Univ. dept. sponsored film series—Not films sponsored by the Student Union.

***University Sponsored Recitals only.

****Clubs may only count as one event regardless of the number of clubs or the number of meetings attended during a term

1.) Provide a brief detail-oriented technical description or summary of the event you attended. This section should remain journalistic and should not be reflective of your opinion.

Visiting Artist Zack Petroc spoke of his past works and experiences. He talked a lot about his experience working on the movie Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow as part of the art and modeling department. He stressed the importance of taking risks to accomplish goals. He mentioned many digital media programs, like Zbrush and Mudbox, that he was able to learn and really work with to make his two dimensional drawings animated in 3D.

2.) Use the section below to write a well-structured paragraph focusing on your personal critical insight / response to the event. How did you interpret or react to what was presented to you?

I found it very interesting to discover that Zack started at the Cleveland Institute of Art as a Sculptor and ended up taking part in a movie like Sky Captain. It really shows that if you work hard and take risks, it will eventually pay off. I also learned more about what being an art director entails- working with color and light. Petroc explained that after working as an art director for other people’s works, he wanted to do his own thing. He mentioned that unless you were the one to write the piece, the audience would never know who the art director was. I never really thought about the fact that people who work behind the scenes really do not get the acknowledgement that they deserve.

3.) What information, ideas, images, etc. most impressed you and why?

The fact that he worked on a movie was very impressive to me because it is very difficult to land a job like that. It seemed he was in the right place at the right time for that opportunity. Another piece of information that impressed me was all the different programs that are out there for digital media. I never realized how difficult it would be to master these programs and actually produce an animated character. Zack’s drawings and sculptures really impressed me as well. The fact that he can draw a character, make it three dimensional on the screen, and then make a sculpture is very impressive.

4.) Overall, how would you rate this event (10 being the most worthwhile)?
(10 / 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 / 5 / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1 )

5.) Justify your rating in the question above:

I really enjoyed this lecture because I really did not know very much about animation. I learned a lot about the different programs as well as the perseverance a person needs to have to make it in whatever field they want to work in. I gave this lecture a seven because it was very informative and interesting. However, I felt that the lecture was dragging on by the end and lasted a lot longer than I expected it to.

ArtsXpose 1

NAME: Margarita Vilshanetskaya

artsXpose

Title of Event Tea Time-Stephanie Rozene

Date & Time of Event February 1, 2008 3:30pm

Location of Event Ceramics Room

Type of event (Only the events listed below fulfill the artsXpose requirement):

Please Bold and Underline the event attended:

Visiting Artist Lectures Exhibition* (non-course related)

Films** Plays

Arts Related Field Trips Recitals***

Poetry / Literary Readings Arts Related Conferences

Arts Related Symposia, discussion/reading groups or workshops

Attendance of Art Club Meeting****

*Exhibition visits must not be course-related (for example, if we visit an exhibition as a class you may not count this exhibition as an artsXpose event.

**Films must be part of a Univ. dept. sponsored film series—Not films sponsored by the Student Union.

***University Sponsored Recitals only.

****Clubs may only count as one event regardless of the number of clubs or the number of meetings attended during a term

1.) Provide a brief detail-oriented technical description or summary of the event you attended. This section should remain journalistic and should not be reflective of your opinion.

Stephanie Rozene’s lecture was about her most recent collaborative project: “Crafting the Perfect Dinner Party with Decorative Diplomacy.” By looking at lunch and dinner menus from the White House, she was able to make dinnerware that reflected the food that was being served. The colors and shapes of the plates and bowls served a specific purpose. Stephanie really thought about how the food would look on the plates. The soup bowls were made so that as the soup was being consumed, the person would be able to uncover more of the pattern on the bowl.

2.) Use the section below to write a well-structured paragraph focusing on your personal critical insight / response to the event. How did you interpret or react to what was presented to you?

I really enjoyed this lecture because I could really tell that Stephanie really thought about the presentation of her pieces as if they were really being served at the White House. The dinnerware looked very well made and the patterns and colors were very beautiful. It was very interesting to find out that the plates served a bigger purpose than just to hold the food. The people eating the food would be able to uncover the art underneath the food with each bite. There was a lot of research that was done for this project which definitely showed in the presentation of the pieces. I also felt very welcome at this event by listening to an artist speak while enjoying some tea and donuts.

3.) What information, ideas, images, etc. most impressed you and why?

What impressed me about this lecture was the amount of time spent on research that Stephanie must have done for this project. She needed to get a hold of the menus to know what was being served at the White House before she could even make the dinnerware. Another thing that impressed me was the little details that were put on the actual dinnerware. The little details really make the dinnerware more than just plates but works of art that should be displayed rather than eaten off of.

4.) Overall, how would you rate this event (10 being the most worthwhile)?
(10 / 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 / 5 / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1 )

5.) Justify your rating in the question above:

I really enjoyed listening to Stephanie talk about her latest project as well as being in such a comfortable atmosphere with other students. I found it very interesting that the inspiration for the dinnerware was menus from the White House. While I thought that the lecture was very interesting, I felt that an hour was not long enough for an artist to talk about the project and then answer questions. One thing that I would have liked to see was dinnerware that reflected the culture of the over- seas guests that visited and ate at the White House. Also, would have liked to learn more about the place where this dinnerware is being displayed and whether or not they will ever be actually used in the White House.

Blog Entry Assignment 3

I strongly believe that we define places rather than places defining us. Every person is different and sees places in their perspective. In the show Art:21-Place, each artist is influenced by a certain place which can be seen in their art work. Richard Serra builds very large steel structures that reflect a moment from his childhood when he looks up at a massive ship being launched. These steel structures are so tall and peculiar in shape that they make people, who view these structures and walk through them, really think about how we walk through space. Photographer Sally Mann sees everything in an artistic way. She likes to express herself with her landscape photographs and uses her own dreams when she chooses what to photograph. Mann likes the aspect of peculiarity and ambiguity in her work or else it is not interesting. Artist Margaret Killgallen was influenced by art that is often avoided by others. She saw billboards as garbage and graffiti as real art. All of her pieces are hand drawn and inspired by folk art. Artist Barry McGee enjoys doing graffiti. He sees his work in the gallery as being solely for viewers in the gallery. However, his graffiti is there for everyone to see. McGee strongly believes that if a person wants to become a master at his art and make a career out of it, he should do it well. The artist I feel most connected to is Sally Mann because I to am a perfectionist when it comes to my art but I also like the small imperfections that are produced in the end product. It is these imperfections that make art look interesting.

When I was young, there were several places that interested me. One place was this very large park that was near my house in Cleveland Heights. If I wanted to get away from my house and be alone for a while, I would go to this park because it made me feel safe and inviting. Another place that I liked going to was the beach. It was a very calming place for me. There were woods near my house that frightened me when I was little because I always thought there were scary creatures living there. Another place from my childhood was Squire’s Castle. I would describe it as being very interesting and ambiguous because its history is a little unclear. Another place that I would go to when was little was an old baseball field where I watched my stepfather play baseball. It was a very fun place where I could just enjoy being young. Out of these five places, I enjoyed Squire’s Castle the most. The castle is located in Willoughby hills and made out of stone. It has several rooms that people can just walk through. When I was there it was very bright out and very warm. It was a very happy place. I enjoyed running around where there was a big open area of grass in front of the castle. It is a great place for people if they want to explore.

Image Essay 7

This piece shows a figure/ground reversal. At first, the viewer may see the head of a man looking to the left with his hand on his shoulder. This image is very clear and appears to be the area of focus. However, there is another image in this piece that may be a little more difficult to see. If the viewer focuses on the man's ear, s/he may notice a woman wearing a long yellow dress. Also, there is a man with a long white beard that makes up the man's nose and mouth. If the viewer looks closely at the man's hand, he or she will actually see a dog laying on the ground. It is very difficult to go back and forth between these two images but it definitely keeps the viewer's attention on this piece.
This composition also demonstrates some principles of gestalt. The principle of containment is visible with the border around the piece which keeps the viewer's focus from going off the page. Closure can be seen when the images of the man, woman, and dog are combined to make the large image of the man. There is a repetition of the stones that make up the old man's upper body.

Brainstorming Lecture

The main theme of the lecture with Dan Graham was about all the aspects of brainstorming. When someone thinks of an original idea, that idea may seem very obvious to other people. Because it may seem too obvious to others, it is best if that person expands on that original idea to make it more complex and interesting. To make the idea or word more complex, the person should look that word up in the dictionary to find its various meanings. This approach will give an artist more ideas off of the one s/he originally had. In today’s class we did an exercise in which we took a piece of paper, folded it in half, and wrote a fairytale on one side. Then we looked at two colors, pastel green and pink, and wrote down words that described those colors on the other side of the paper. The descriptions could have been of a certain taste or smell that reminded you of those colors. Then we unfolded the paper and read the sentences that were made from the fairytale and the descriptive words. All of the sentences sounded very funny and made the story a lot more interesting. Then we got into groups of eight and made a short narrative using one sentence from each person. My sentence in the narrative was “He traveled to a castle with pink panties from Victoria’s Secret.” It was hilarious to hear all of the stories because they were such random ideas and included phrases that did not even make sense. The purpose of this exercise was to start from one idea and branch off and make it more interesting and original. After each group created a narrative, each person had to take their sentence and expand on that idea and turn it into a character. Each of us had to illustrate that character and then combine all the characters to make one big picture. After finishing this big illustration, Dan Graham made it clear that what we were doing was not art. What we were actually doing was brainstorming that could eventually be turned into a work of art.

Texture, Symmetry, and Gestalt

The symbol for this texture assignment is of a crown with an evil face and devil's pitchfork. It symbolizes the evil of greed. I used the soft texture of the flowers in opposition to the symbol's meaning and the coins to symbolize greed. The bottom of the crown is fire and the textures that are used reflect the aspects of flames. It looks very hot and smoky. To make the symbol stand out from the background, I decided to use black and dark gray shades for the symbol and textures with light and medium gray shades for the background. having the symbol very dark makes it pop out and not get lost in the chaos of the different textures in the background. The textures in the background still need some work because they look very block-ish and do not have a good flow yet for a viewer's eye to move around the composition.
The principles of gestalt that I am using are repetition and grouping. Some of the textures that are being repeated through out the composition are the coins, flowers, and leaves. The principle of grouping can be seen with the flowers. I cut out flowers and put them in the lower left hand corner where the water is. Also, I cut out coins and put them in the symbol. The viewer will be able to spot these images and group them to the textures they will find in the symbol and in the background. Grouping can be seen with the square images to the right of the crown as well. The square shape of the bricks can be grouped with the square shape of the pattern next to it.

Image Essay 6

This piece of art work shows many of the principles of gestalt. The principle of grouping can be seen with the shapes in this composition. The viewer makes connections with the circles, the swirls, and the square-shaped designs in the three corners of this piece. Also, a viewer can group the lines in the composition because they are all evenly spaced together and located at the bottom of the composition. The principle of containment is visible in this piece as well with the white border. This border helps the viewer stay on the page and keep looking instead of wandering off the page. Repetition is used with the curvilinear elements. Figure/ground reversal is visible with the white and black. The lines that go through the swirls change from white to black and vice versa as well as the swirls when they go through the border. The principle of proximity is visible with the separation of the lines. Continuity is present with the curvilinear connection between most of the elements in this composition. The viewer’s eye would move very well around this composition because of the fluidity of the swirls and circles and because of the manner in which these elements are arranged in this piece.

Smell of Toast (Blog Entry Assignment 2)

This class assignment, called 3 Shapes 3 Times, included juxtaposing three forms, three representational shapes, and three abstract shapes. These were the starting guidelines for this project. However, as I was getting further and further into this piece, it became much more than what was asked for in the beginning. This composition was meant to invoke the smell of toast and jelly. My representational shapes included the piece of toast, the toaster, the mouth, and the knife. My abstract forms were the smoke, piece of butter, and the jelly. The three pure shapes I used were the triangles falling out of the jelly jar and the circle that the smoke is entering in the upper right hand corner.

The medium that was used for this piece was ink pens. This medium helped me to experiment with line and definition. This composition definitely has a series of lines with different thicknesses. I used curvilinear lines for the smoke to show the flowing movement that real smoke would have. I used hatching for the crust of the bread to convey the roughness of the bread. Also, I used stippling for the actual toast to give texture to the image as if the viewer was seeing crumbs on the piece of toast. The jelly was very challenging because it is very difficult to convey the stickiness and thickness through line. In the final piece, I used shading and cross hatching to make the jelly take on the characteristics of real gelatin.

One of the main points of this project was to use images that would create tension between one another. This tension was created by using different shading techniques like stippling as well as using different types of lines. Tension can be seen at the top of the image between the smoke, the crust, and the toast. The stippling of the toast is conflicting with the straight lines of the crust and the flowing lines of the smoke. Even though there is tension between these elements, the composition still has a sense of balance.

Before I made this final copy, my first composition lacked a dominant positive shape. My piece was all white and did not have enough black and gray shapes to balance the composition. That is when I added the lips and the tongue. Making the lips black and very large on the page, made it the dominant positive shape and gave the lips definition. Adding the stippling around the lips, gave the composition the gray that it needed for balance. Making these additions also gave me a chance to experiment with texture. I used stippling and cross hatching for the tongue to show how rough it is. Also, I added lines to the lips to show the imperfections and dryness.

I am very happy with this piece but I know I could improve it to make it even better. Instead of using contour lines for the toaster, I could have used line in a different way to show the texture of the toaster more. Another thing I could have done differently was put the toast in the middle instead of the lips. The main element of this piece was supposed to be the smell of toast so it may have been better to put the main element in the middle. Also, I would have changed the sizes of the toast, lips and toaster. They all seem to be very similar in size but it is not as obvious because the toast and toaster go off the page. Over all, I am extremely happy about how the final piece turned out.

Image Essay 5

The figure in Henri Matisse’s Blue Nude is a negative shape. There is a figure/ground reversal in this piece. The viewer can see the negative shape of the body but there is also shapes being formed in the background by that figure. The nude figure has a very curvilinear shape and is asymmetrical. The figure is taking up most of the space on the page but is not confined to the edges. The body’s foot extends off the page and the arm that is going above the head also looks cut off at the top of the page. Because of the way the negative shape is placed on the page, the viewer’s eye moves very well around the whole composition. The eye can start from the right hand corner where the foot is, following the flowing lines of the legs, then up to the face and around the arm and back down the other arm. This piece is very interesting to look at and the viewer does not miss anything on the page. The body is very abstract and the blue color makes the negative shape stand out from the positive shapes that are formed.

Image Essay 4

This image is a perfect example of a figure/ ground reversal. One person can see a young woman with a hat, looking away. Another person may not see this younger woman but an older woman looking forward. It is very difficult to go back and forth switching from figure to ground. However, it is this technique that can make a viewer want to look at the image longer until he or she is able to spot both images. The lines that make up the hat and feather have all the same thickness. If there was a variety of length and thickness to the lines, the viewer would be able to see texture in the hat and the feather. The balance between white and black are very even, but there is no gray to balance this image out even more. The positive shapes of the hat and face are formed by contour lines. If shading were added to the face and the hat, the entire image would look more realistic.

Image Essay 3

This image is meant to represent greed and how far man is willing to go to get everything he or she desires. The skeleton is the area of focus because the pile of money seems to be surrounding it. Also, the skeleton is in the middle of the composition so attention goes straight to this figure. The skeleton is in the foreground, the pile of money in the middle ground, and the flames in the background. The skeleton figure is the most detailed which makes it the dominant shape. The viewer’s eye would move pretty well around the page. Since the skeleton has his arms extended out, the eye moves from the bottom of the composition, following the extended arm all the way to the top of the image. The flow would be a lot better if maybe the arms of the skeleton were bent so that the viewer’s eye would go to one hand and then swing around to the next hand and then come back around to the skeleton’s chest in a circle. There is a lot of shading in the pile of money as well as on the bones of the skeleton. This makes the image look more three dimensional.

Image Essay 2

As I was searching for images that represented freedom, I came upon this image of butterflies. I view butterflies as a symbol of freedom because they are free to wander around and are rarely caged. Butterflies are so symmetrical in shape, but the way they are situated in this image, the composition looks asymmetrical. The butterfly that appears most dominant in size is the blue one in the corner because it expands past the edges of the page. This butterfly appears to be the biggest when the viewer follows the line of the wings out past the edges of the page to predict the actual size of the butterfly. The two butterflies in the middle are subordinate in shape because they seem to be medium in size and are very similar in size to each other. The viewer's eye would move from the dominant butterfly in the corner to the two butterflies in the middle and then up to the smaller butterflies in the upper left hand corner. The viewer's eye does not move around the page because of the way the composition is set up. The eye moves from the bottom right hand corner straight to the upper left hand corner because that is the direction in which all of the butterflies are facing. The wings are accented with great detail which gives the butterflies some texture. Having the wings overlap each other gives the composition a sense of depth. It makes the butterflies appear three dimensional rather than laying flat on the page.

Image Essay 1

In Claude Monet’s The River, Bennecourt, the area of focus is the woman over looking the river. The viewer’s eye moves from the area of focus (woman) to the trees and then to the houses in the background. Monet’s asymmetrical arrangement of this composition keeps the viewer’s eye going around the painting and does not let the eye wander off. This painting is a perfect example of the figure-ground relationship. The woman is the figure and the river and houses are the ground. The viewer would notice the woman first before the houses and the river in the background. The trees and grass appear dominant because they extend past the edges of the painting. The woman and the boat are medium masses so they are subordinate and the houses are accentual in size because they appear very small. The water to the right of the painting is the dominant negative space while the area between the two trees is accentual negative space. In this impressionistic painting, Monet experiments with the lighting so that the viewer notices the reflections made on the water.

My Biographical Statement

I have been making art ever since I was able to pick up a pencil. One of the main reasons I make art is for my own personal satisfaction. Of course I have been drawing and making other art pieces in all of the art classes I have taken throughout my entire school career. However, each piece had significance because they reflected my own personality and making them solely for the purpose of getting a good grade was never at the top of my list as to why I make art. Being able to express myself through my drawings is very important to me. Art allows me to make certain statements about issues that I would not have been able to express any other way. The last time I made a drawing was yesterday when I was working on a self portrait. I like getting critiqued on my pieces and asked a friend to look at my drawing. She told me the strengths and weaknesses of my drawing which really helped me to improve the final product.

The sources of my ideas are things that stand out to me and/or things that I am interested in. I love to do still- life drawings and each of the pieces I do show my perspective on the world around me. I learn the most when I have an interest in what I am studying. That is the best way I will be able to retain new information. I know that everything that I will be learning will not always spark an interest, but I will work hard nevertheless to learn as much as I can. The conditions I need in a classroom to learn the most is for the professor to be available for his/her students whenever they need assistance. Also, I really enjoy getting honest feedback for my work because it truly does help me improve all of my skills as an artist. The materials that I have used to create art are pencils, pens, paints, pastels, and different types of paper from construction paper to canvases. The use of these materials depends on what I am trying to create at the moment. Each drawing utensil I choose serves an important purpose because it allows me to make the types of strokes I want for that piece.

There are many things that inspire me. This may seem like a cliché but some of my most important inspirations are my friends and family. The people closest to me have inspired me to pursue art academically because they see the talent that I have and know that I have the potential to be a great artist in the future. They want what is best for me and know that I will be a great art teacher. I gave up taking art classes in ninth grade because I had schedule conflicts. It was horrible giving it up and probably one of my biggest mistakes. My friends gave me a hard time about it and made me realize that I was just wasting my talent so I decided to pursue art education at college.

I define art as using one’s creativity and imagination to make a piece that reflects the artist in some way. In my opinion, anything can be defined as being art as long as the piece came from the imagination of the artist and has some sort of significance to them. I believe that all art should mean something to the artist that is creating it. If it doesn’t, then there is no reason to make it. I think that movies, music, video games, and comics are all art forms because they all came for inside the head of one person or many people. All of these things started off as an idea that people wished to make a reality. The art of an artist reflects that artist’s personality and style. These can also be said for movies, music, comics, etc. Directors and musicians put their own style into whatever they create. I believe that all people get to decide what defines art. Each person has his/her own opinion and is entitled to it.