What I've Learned From Art....

What have I learned from Art Appreciation? I think there are so many concepts that I have learned from this course that I can relate to everyday life that it would be literally impossible to write each one down. Mainly I think I have gained the appreciation of the things that surround me. I have taken a lot more time out of my life to look and reflect on the world that I see on a daily basis. With my fiancée in Iraq, each day is getting increasingly harder, but thanks to taking this class I can see the beauty within even the most painful artwork. I have grown to understand that art is a mere reflection of raw emotion for most artists. And I am truly happy that I am able to share this experience and learning process with others. It allowed me to grow as a person and understand that I am not the only who feels the way I do, if I look around me there will always be someone who is expressing the way they feel through art. I may not be an artist but I do appreciate the aspects of my life that they contribute too.
Not to sound cliché, but during the course of this class I have broken down into tears over some of the art work that I had seen in the text or that I have seen scanning through the internet for a better understanding of certain keywords. I avoid watching the news and reading the newspapers for fear of hearing any horrible news coming out of Iraq, but to me it is amazing how I can’t avoid art, no matter which way I turn it is always there staring me in the face. I think it is still shocking in a way that art has so much to do with our everyday lives and I wish that I ultimately had the capacity to create such elegant pieces of art, like the ones we have seen throughout this course. (Trust me no matter how hard I tried it always looked like a 5 year old painted it). Yes the key terms of this course plague my head, heck even the key terms from my class with Pacansky-Brock my first semester at Sierra plague me!!! Every time I walk into a building I can tell you the different types of architectural terms that were used in creating the look of each building. But overall I think that I am going to remember the way I felt when I first looked at a painting and broke down into tears, not by seeing the painting, but being able to translate what the artist was trying to say or expression when they were creating it. I understand that it can be important to know what kind of paint was used, what style or era the painting was in, but this class is truly ART APPRECIATION. I told my fiancée that I didn’t really expect to receive any type of experience that would be so incredibly movable, but I did and was thankful. This class helped me through 7 weeks without the love of my life, for that I will be forever grateful.

Hopefully the pictures of my fiancee above help you understand that somehow this class meant alot more than writing of blogs and looking over images, paintings, or photographs. It kept me pretty much sane!!! So again THANK YOU SO MUCH.

Kristina Harrison...(soon to be Haukap.;-P)

Conceptual Art

What is conceptual art? That is a unique question to ask, I think that conceptual art can be anything that we see, it is created every day. Conceptual art allows us the opportunity to think about what the artist is trying to say. It can be comedic or it can have a serious tone too, at least behind the meaning. I think everyone’s idea of conceptual art also varies, just like the interviews we read this work or the works we saw, each of us find different meaning with each piece of art work. Conceptual art is the best way for an artist to get their thoughts, emotions, or beliefs out for the rest of the world to see, or maybe it is something that allows them to bring people together, or make people QUESTION themselves.
For instance Marina Abramovic and Ulay’s Imponderabilia, it required us to ask why they were standing at the entrance to the museum forcing people to choose which body they had to face, the male or female. It almost makes you ponder why they would be making people chose, did it mean that they wanted people to understand it is okay to be comfortable with your sexuality. If you faced the man and you were also a male did that hinder at some deeper meaning?? I was thinking about this while I looked at the website Professor Pacansky-Brock provided for us. It seems almost surreal that there would be anything but conceptual art. We are always looking especially in this class, at paintings, sculptures, drawings, or any other form of art and trying to analyze what the artist was trying to say what their statement meant. I think artists are in the best position to get their thoughts heard through their art, and allow people to not only understand what they were feeling but maybe add new feelings from that of the observer. I am a huge fan of conceptual art, I think I have more fun trying to find out what certain things mean, what the artist wants me to know or understand. If I were to have visited the same museum as Pacansky-Brock and was able to see the works by Ono, I might have found it so captivating. I love seeing how others react to something they don’t understand. That phone couldn’t have been a conceptual piece of art work could it?? To many it wasn’t until the woman was able to pick up the phone and be connected to someone they have never met, meaning that there were two very curious people that day! It makes you look within yourself to understand how your thought process is like that of the artist or how it is different.

Art Visit...

Dingo by Micheal Stevens

*So the pictures of my friend and I in front of the museum turned out HORRIBLE there was a huge glare that covered our face anyway, but I did include a picture of us in the “mirrored house” or better entitled by the artist Public Eye-Private Me created by Mildred Howard. Horrible but so funny, we sat in there making faces at one another ( I am the really sun-burnt one in blue holding the camera LOL)!!! Also I am including other paintings that caught my attention…


On this past Saturday the 20th of June, I went to the Crocker Art Museum; I have to say that I wasn’t expecting it to be such a great experience. I took my friend Kim with me, thank goodness, because I was stuck in traffic and totally got lost downtown!!!! When we first entered the museum we thought that it was going to be small with a few exhibitions but WOW was I pleasantly surprised. The architecture found at the Crocker Art Museum was so amazing I couldn’t help but take it all in and stand at certain entrances enjoying the works from afar.

First thing you see on the 2nd Floor, the Sculpture is Nydia, Blind Flower Girl of Pompeii. This shows the architecture.

I was able to see ‘The Language of the Nude’ on exhibit, I tried to take picture but the low light found in the hallways and back rooms made them really hard to see. I can honestly say that being in the front of these paintings all I wanted to do was touch the canvas if I could, even though I know it is against the rules! I stood back and was good not to touch or break anything, but I think I was just in AWE of the way the pieces look in person compared to something you see in a book or online. This exhibit was so exciting to see, it gave me a great understanding of the way art changes from I think 3 or 4 centuries. Each work was so magnificent in their own regard, each signifying a certain aspect of the world or belief at that time. I enjoyed being able to look at a painting for instance and find the focal point and analyze what the artist was trying to express. It is still shocking to be able to see every stroke of the paintbrush or pencil in these works of art. I was even able to use artistic terminology when I was trying to explain to my friend certain aspects of paintings. I think whenever I see a work of art I want to be able to see it in person and then analyze its meaning and the way I feel about it in person.
When entering the 2nd floor and going through the maze of all the art work, I noticed one piece of work that seemed so distinct from afar, but when I started walking up to it, you realize that the artist had sort of eluded you into thinking it was a simple painting. I am sure if you went to the museum you would have seen the piece of George W. Bush’s face! The work of art was done by Richard Notkin who was born in 1945, and it was entitled All Nations Have Their Moments of Foolishness. This absolutely had me stunned; I sat there for about 20 minutes the longest I took looking at any painting, going over the thought and time it took the artist to make this public statement. When reading the brief summary next to the work, it says that each tile was hand sculpted by the artist himself in order to fit into what he wanted to express about the way Bush ran the country without blatantly doing so. I mean there were tiles of ears, sperm, skulls, and hands/feet all representing lives that have been affected by the presidents or those ruling our country. Those who have the power to do what they wish and what they think is the best to keep us “free”. I myself have never been any part of politics until this past election, I am young and still trying to understand the world in many aspects. But since entering college I have realized that you have to obtain your own opinion of everything. I felt connected to the artist with this artwork. I felt like he understood what I couldn’t express or say, and he was able to lay it out in a way that I was able to appreciate. That made the 3 hours of traffic worth every moment.

Shepherdess by Edward Ritchie Butler

If I had to say anything about having to go to an art museum for this class, I probably would have said, DANG they are so boring. But to my surprises being on my own without a class, without anyone there to push me forward, I really enjoyed myself. I had the chance to find a few pieces of work that truly inspired me and that was worth the visit and worth so much then I think I even realized. I had so much fun at the Crocker Art Musuem. I felt like I was too quick to jump to conclusions about what it was going to be like due to past experiences. But this was worth every second.

Laughing Woman by Rufino Tamayo

Two Worlds Collide

I think it was the best idea to review the artwork by artists Cottingham and Aziz & Cucher before reading the lecture this week. Because in all truth my interpretation of the images at first without reading the lecture was that the artists were trying to convey the ability to represent the fact that we are all the same regardless of what we believe in the Fictitious Portraits by Cottingham. While also seeing that Aziz & Cucher wanted to represent that we are all different, but those features we seem to use as factors for determination of oneself or of someone else don’t really apply. Then you go to read the lecture, and you realize YES these are digital manipulations, they are not what most would consider a “true photograph”, they do not show us exactly portray the object that the artist is photographing. But does this mean they are less of an artist and less honest in their rendering of the truth? I think NOT. These are images the artist contorted to explain their raw emotion in a blunt and outward manner. I do believe these are actual photographs; the artist had to take a picture of the person and yes in turn rearrange certain aspects. But how is that any different from hitting the “automatic fix button” on Photoshop. That would turn the photograph into another contortion or manipulation, right? Now I must say that FINALLY someone was able to show the true nature of magazines, commercials, and other advertisements that we see every day. I am nowhere near being a perfect 2, yes when I see the images in these publications I would love to be that skinny. But I think we have to take a step back and realize that this is what someone else wants you to see, doesn’t mean you have cohere. Art is a term of your own interpretation, a photograph whether digital or not is septible to that same response toward the subject matter. We need to interpret what we see, not just what the creator wants us to see but what we feel and can visualize. Honestly I thought the woman in the Dove video was beautiful, but I thought “way too skinny”. If other parts of the world can see all the advertisements that we do and also cohere to the same type of image mutilation, but still be okay with overweight women, how are we unable to do the same? That is the question that I think we should think harder about! In America how is it harder to keep that perfect image or ideal of beauty compared to say Italy! They take like 3 hours for lunch and eat and eat and eat and eat, yes causing some to be overweight or “bigger” but that is no different than the 30 pound lighter person behind them! Everything is based upon the context we see individually within the images or art work. Cottingham, Aziz & Cucher I think too a bigger leap in turning away from the average manipulation of images into a different perspective of art, one everyone would benefit from seeing often!

My Favorite Painting

My favorite painting would have to be one of the many done by artist Andrew Wyeth of his neighbor Helga. Most of the paintings were done in tempera, dry brush, watercolor, and pencil. I honestly don’t think I could pick just one of the paintings, because his work is so real and precise that it draws you in. I do think that doing his work in tempera gave him a huge advantage in being very detailed and durable. These paintings were done over a time period of 15 years, without anyone knowing or seeing his work except Helga and himself. He believed so strongly in his vision of Helga and what she represented that he didn’t even let his wife know (I bet she wasn’t too happy when she saw some of the paintings). Within those 15 years he did create I believe it was over 240 different pieces that represented Helga in many ways and in a sense paid homage to her life and her struggle. Andrew Wyeth’s use of different types of paint allowed him to experiment and find that key to each image of Helga he wanted to draw upon.
In the articles I have read about the Helga paintings it is said that Wyeth did not mean to be psychological about his painting of this woman, instead he wanted to be able to focus and bring focus to certain elements when combined on her body, such as that of light or dark, the way the leaves would cover her face. This may be true for the artist but when I look at these paintings I can’t help but to be more and more ready to feel what the artist was feeling, to understand how a woman could sit for hours and hours of modeling to accomplish 240 paintings in 15 years. I think maybe when I look at these paintings I am hoping for an underlying monolougue, something that indicates there was a deeper relationship then just the model and artist. So needless to say that when I did find out that Helga was a family friend my beliefs and thoughts about the painting were a tad bit shattered. But these paintings did help me in realizing that art is what you make of it and what you see and feel when you look at it from your own point of view. I think this exercise was the best way to help me understand difference in emotion between what I feel and think in my life and what the artist felt and saw within his own.
While researching about the “Helga” paintings by Andrew Wyeth and learned that he and Helga still are close and she is a care giver for him and his wife in their older age. It is amazing that art had made such a connection with these otherwise strangers. It is a bond between the artist and the model that we may not see but you can feel it in the way he used his paints and each brush stroke was important, precise, and calculated!!

Thomas Kinkade....ARTIST?

Thomas Kinkade...hmmm…I must say that I did review all the articles and websites provided by Professor Pacansky-Brock, and WOW. I never really thought about Kinkade making so much money or realized that the paintings being sold in his signature stores were merely copies or prints of his originals. This means every time I am at the Galleria Mall and walk past that store those OUTRAGEOUS prices are not worth the time to even stop in the store to look at. I think there is some intense debate about whether or not Kinkade is seen by the art world as a true artist or a money hungry man. In my opinion artists believe in the works they are producing, but do not produce them on such a high scale that 1 out of 10 households in the United States has a copy! To give Kinkade a little leeway I do understand that when artwork is created there is a way to license other products, just as blankets and books filled with pictures of your work. These products are clearly known to the consumer to not be a real piece and if they wish to spend their money purchasing something with the artists painting or drawing on it, more power to them.
But when I was talking to my mother, who would never buy a print of any painting, she was shocked to hear that when she was looking at Kinkade artwork, it was a printmaking technique and that he has as I called them “minions” to create artwork that looked identical to his own. In all the articles that I read his work was described as chocolate-box art which I think does fit his artwork properly it is a piece of art that is for decoration and seen as maybe sentimental or idealistic. The reason I think Kinkade so easily falls into this category is because he does make beautiful paintings, if you are receiving an original. But he is a master at drawing someone in to see his vision, the use of religion to sell your artwork to me seems so harsh and unrealistic that I am hard pressed to say he would have not been so successful had he created the art work and distributed it to galleries around the world to see what would take place. He seems to have almost an arrogance about him while you are reading about the artist you can easily see his vision and see the love they carry for the work they have created, but when I read about him be self-proclaimed this and that I can honestly say any respect I had for him as an artist fell out the window. To say that you are “America’s most-collected living artist” is like being twelve years old again and saying I am much more popular than you!! It does give you a quick idea and sense about Kinkade that it doesn’t become about the artwork it has become about the popularity of his work and the money he has made from the art world.
In all honesty I see someone who values their work enough to not produce in such a high demand as to accommodate the consumers who want it as artists. Art is supposed to be something that can be treasured, that one painting or drawing that you can look at and see a piece of yourself or emotions within each stroke or line. This image shouldn’t be plastered everywhere. But if you have gone to the extreme Kinkade has, then people begin to lose sight of the definition of “art” and why it is amazing and genuine. Yes Kinkade is an artist, he can create beautiful masterful works of art, but I don’t think he really can be seen as an artist when money becomes more important than the work he is creating. He has become a very successful printmaker!!!!! I must say though that somewhere within all the controversy of Kinkade there is some good, the painting above that he presented to the USO hits me hard, as does any picture of a soldier. But when I think about the world wind drama of his paintings, that picture may mean something to me, yet I want to know that I don't have to see the painting everywhere, that maybe one day I can see the real image in its entirety and get those same feelings.
Michelangelo, Van Gogh, and Monet are artist in their own right; their work has and will always be seen through the eyes of onlookers as something miraculous. Money didn’t drive them to mass produce as much as they could in a lifetime, using religion to lure people in, and then hurting those willing to help you succeed.

Analyze That!!!(X2)

I am absolutely in love with this image for some reason. The first thing you notice is obviously the focal point, being the woman’s face; she looks so angelic and tranquil. I believe the artist used warm hues to outline the face and other areas of the body as seen in the lower left half of the image. With the use of warm hues you have a better sense of the contour lines found throughout the image. It seems the artist wants you to have a sense of nudity about the woman, almost as if she is an angel and needs nothing to hide herself behind! Also the use of expressive lines seems to be very apparent in the space and area around the woman, the area which seems to be transparent looks almost like angel wings. The artist’s lines are gestured and loose, as if they were trying to convey true emotion. The positioning of the woman’s body seems to be that she is sitting on a stool or cloud. With a white face seems to be more of an arbitrary color, providing us with the idea that she is a fantasy or something that is innately untouchable. If you look closely you can see that it seems her hair is slightly covering her hair and it is “swaying” in a breeze of some sort, giving you a sense of motion, like maybe she is flying in the air!!! The use of light was obvious when it seems to be reflected off of her face, there is a huge contrast between the light and dark areas of the image. It honestly reminded me of the painting by Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith and the Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes. Just the way the light is shown, granted there are no distinct shadows, except for those that are shown on the face to provide more of a feeling about mass and shape of the woman/object! There is also I think a sense of the technique of light modeling called chiaroscuro, just the way her face is so much lighter and it slowly fades as you reach her arm darker and darker!

Watch The Magic!

This week while we focused on light and color I had so much fun learning about the different terms how they relate to the art world and how they relate to daily life. I honestly had no idea what object I wanted to place outside to perform this observation, but I decided talking about hue, saturation, and value that I needed to use a primary color to best represent what I was trying to explain. The exercise ball I thought was amazing, I set it in my backyard (we just moved so the backyard is a mess) and took pictures at 6 am, again at 8:30 am, and again at noon.

For the first two images in the backyard the light source is mostly shaded by a giant tree, which led the hues found in the image to be lower in saturation. I believe that the third image is saturated at a higher level than the first two since they are pure hues. Since color is an effect of light and light affects color, I felt that the ball was the best way to represent the value of the color blue. In the first picture the value of the blue was much “cooler” I guess you would say in contrast to the blue you do eventually see at about noon where the color is much brighter. In the middle image you can see where the sun is beginning to peak through the trees creating “blotches” of noticeable difference between the hue and value of the color. The cool hues in the image, the ball and even the weed which is green next to it stand out compared to the warm hues found in the background of the actual house, which is a tan-ish color. As the day goes on though the color of the house changes from a darker, “shaded” tone to be brighter and more noticeable. But there were areas underneath the ball that begin to show shadows from the excercise ball in the second and third image. For me the image I took is in sorts the opposite of Hans Hoffman’s painting, his warm colors stood out more than the cool colors. The relative darkness of the first two images pales in comparison to the last image where the value of light and the color found within the ball are much more “explosive”, in this case the ball in the last photo had a tint. The ball in the third image is more saturated then the ball in the previous pictures because the hues are seen to be more pure. Honestly I just love after reading this week’s lecture and chapter that I am able to recognize the intense difference found in objects throughout the day and understand how light effects color and vice versa. Also earlier today I was watching how clouds can change the value, hue, and saturation of objects instantly if they block part of the sun…I am a dork but thought that was neat. It seems like these are things we never think about and I can honestly say I didn’t think I would have this much fun learning about key terms!!!!

Analyze This!

By Roger Weise.

Line and Space

Since reading this weeks learning unit for Chapter 5 and Chapter 6 I have been really noticing how all the keywords and concepts relate to everyday life. I was driving up to Auburn and you know once you are past Sierra College Boulevard it starts to go uphill, well I thought this was a great example of linear perspective. (I did try to take a picture with my camera phone...BUT bad bad idea when driving, so I found one online.) I mean everyday we are driving on the road whether it be day or night. I thought that it clearly showed parrallel lines that eventually do converge at a point on the horizon line. And when you look at the cars you see that some of them do overlap giving you the perception of depth, and as the cars are farther back in the picutre they recede in size. Or when you are in downtown Sacramento and you are standing on the sidewalk next to one of the "sky-scrapers", have you ever noticed the same idea with the windows??? All parrallel lines that converge at one point, they recede in size as they are farther from your sight, and they dont neccessarily overlap but from your own knowledge you can percept a certain amount on depth!!

I think that a contour line can be found when you look at just about anything. Its just a matter of how you percieve it. Contour lines give any object shape and volume. When I look at the door in my room I can see the contour lines that give it the shape and volume. I think that with all these new key terms swarming around in my head that the world and my surroundings are becoming more visually interesting, I can be making dinner now and the idea of how the lines and shapes of the pots and pans or the boxes of the items I am using relate to the art world. And when I look into my closet in the morning how I could sit back and see how the contour lines made by my clothing effect my perception of my closet and the clothes found within it. Pretty freaky if I can say so myself, I just never really thought about anything that way. And I think that when becoming an artist and having to use contour lines to for artwork is something you would think to be hard but as it turns out it isn't; just becomes a matter of knowing how to create the best visual effect.

Sorry sideways but it wont let me change it...SNIFFLE.