Week 16: Reflection of AED 200

1. What were you expectations for this course and where they met?

My expectations for this course was to learn a lot more about art than what I previously had already known. I didn't really know what to expect at first when I began this course, I thought it would be a lot of reading about the history of art and just doing written assignments, but it was much different, as we were able to create art and display it on our blogs for everyone to see. I thought my expectations were met, as I was able to get much more out of this course than I thought I was going to get, being that we did so much more than I was anticipating. So overall, I have to say that my expectations were definitely met for this course. 

2. Now that you've been through this course, What is art? How would you define it now compared to your initial posting?

Now that I have been through this course, I still would define art the same, as art can be anything and everything. I would still define art as the same as I did in my initial post because my view hasn't changed on it, being a former art major I had a pretty good idea already what art was and how it was defined to me, so I will continue to stick with my definition of art as, everything you see in the world because it takes skills and knowledge to create art, as it also takes skill and knowledge to create just about anything else in the world as well.

3. Who was your favorite artist in your original posting and who is your favorite visual artist now? If there is a difference, why do you think so? If you have the same favorite artist, why do you think so?

My favorite artist in my original posting was Joseph Whalen, a local artist to the buffalo area. He is still my favorite visual artist now as well, mostly due to the fact that I really like his work, he is well known in the town that I was born and raised in, as well as the fact that I know and am friends with the majority of his family. I think, as impressive as all other artists work is, Joseph Whalen will always remain my favorite visual artist, as I hope to one day own a piece of his artwork. 

4. Now that you've completed this course, how do you feel about taking an online course? Is your answer the same as it was in your first posting? How is it the same or different?

Although this is not my first online course, as I have taken others in the past, along with also taking another online class alongside this one this semester, I feel perfectly comfortable taking online courses, as I know what to expect, learning and technology wise, as well as the fact that it adds a large amount of flexibility to my schedule. My answer is the same as the one in my original posting, mostly due to the fact that this is not my first online course, as I also know how they work, so I wasn't really expecting anything special or different. 

Week 15: Self Portrait and Art Gallery Visit

For this project I was unable to visit a physical art gallery and was not very successful in using the art gallery website provided, but I was able to find a really good online art gallery, which had a very large collection of self portraits called Art Gallery NSW, which can be found at this link: http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/?q=self+portrait+&page=1  

Artwork #1

Name: James Gleeson

Title: Self Portrait 

Media: Drawing

Size: 36.2 x 26.8

Year: 1938-40

Artwork #2

Name: BE Minns

Title: Self Portrait 

Media: Watercolor 

Size: 45.5 x 35.5

Year: 1928

Artwork #3

Name: Charles Blackman

Title: Self Portrait 

Media: Oil and synthetic polymer paint on paperboard 

Size: 45.5 x 47.5

Year: 1952

1. Why did you select the inspiration pieces?

Overall, I selected these specific inspirational pictures because they were so unique with their design and I particularly loved the colors they used in the paintings themselves, to me, the colors gave the painting the wow effect and made them so interesting to look at. To go through why I chose each painting separately, for the first self portrait by James Gleeson, I chose this painting because of how unique it looks, the painting itself almost looks unfinished and the colors are sloppy and speared on in unique color tones, I overall thought it was very unique. For the second self portrait by BE Minns, I chose this paining because it looked very realistic but also cartoonish at the same time, I also really liked the color choices in this painting as well. For the third self portrait by Charles Blackman, I chose this painting because it was very abstract and out of the box in terms of color and design, one of the reasons I chose this specific painting was due to the fact that I really like self portraits that are abstract with unique out of the box color choices that don't really look realistic. 

2. Why did you select the media to create your self-portrait?

I selected paint as my media to create my self portrait because I wanted to use something that allowed me to blend unique colors together to have that unique creative effect like the three inspirational paintings I chose. I really wanted my self portrait to be somewhat abstract, especially with the unrealistic color choices I chose, which is the main reason I chose paint. I originally wanted to use oil pastels, as I am very good at blending those colors together but I thought it would take too much time to complete this project, so I went with paint as my second choice. 

3. What challenges did you face in creating your self-portrait and how did you overcome them?

The main challenges I faced in this project was actually drawing my face on the paper, I have not done any drawing projects, especially faces, in a long time so I was a bit rusty when it came to that part. Another challenge I also had was the painting, being that I have never really been a strong painter, I found it kind of challenging to not mess up as you can’t erase paint. With both of those two previous challenges, I did find it very difficult to draw and paint my nose, as I just could not get it to look right. I was able to overcome both these challenges by pushing through it and not giving up, even if I made a mistake. As for the challenge of making my nose look right, I overcame this challenge by just keeping in my mind that the goal of my painting is to make it look abstract. 

4. How does this piece represent you?

This piece represents me because it is so unique, as I am a creative out of the box person,   which is why I wanted to use abstract, not ordinary colors, in my painting to describe my creativity. Overall I think the way a painting is done in terms of color and design can really describe a person and the way mine is so colorful and creative, I think it does a good job describing me as a person, being creative and always positive. 

5. What elements and principles of art did you apply in this work?

Some of the elements and principles of art I used in this painting were color, balance, and emphasis. For the first one, being color, this can be evident in the fact that I used such a variety of rich and dull colors throughout the painting, which really draws the viewers attention into the piece. For the second one, being balance, this is evident in the fact that my face is nearly symmetrical and everything you see on one side of the painting, you well see on the other side. For the third, being emphasis, this is evident in all of the bright colors, but were I find it most noticeable is in my face, as a bright orangey red face is not realistic and really draws the attention in of the viewer.

6. Did you enjoy working on this project?

I did enjoy working on this project a lot, overall I thought it was very fun and interesting to paint myself, and the part I enjoyed the most was, we were able to do it our way and choose the media we wanted to work with. I definitely thought this was one of my favorite projects to work with so far this semester, but it still does not beat the photography project. 

7. What do you think of your final artwork?

I think my final artwork was good, as I was able to accomplish everything I was looking to do, being abstract design, unique out of the box color choices, and my work looking sort of unfinished but finished, as all of these things I did related very well to the three inspirational pictures I chose for this project. Overall, I think my painting represents me well and I was able to create something unique and interesting, even thought it might not be the best looking painting, I am pleased with it, especially how good my hair turned out in the painting.

Project #4: Art Curator Exhibition Slideshow

Reflection on the Creation of an Art Exhibit: 

“Flashback to Harlem” 

Curated by Ryan Stockton

Creating an art exhibit and a theme for an exhibit was a lot more work than I thought it was going to be, the most challenging part of the whole process was coming up with a good name and theme. To start with my title and theme, I have always been interested in the Harlem Renaissance and remembered that there was so much interesting artwork that was created during that time period, which is why I chose the Harlem Renaissance and 1920s time period for the theme of my exhibit, which led me to think of the title “Flashback to Harlem. Moving past the title and theme of the exhibit, the actual process was very time consuming, especially finding quality artworks to display in my exhibit, as well as finding all of the additional information needed, such as media, size and the date the artwork was created. I think the whole process was made a lot easier due to the fact that a lot of the previous projects helped me a lot in the creation of this exhibit, such as the knowledge on how to properly describe the artwork, give an interpretation and explanation. As for the process of creating the exhibit itself in powerpoint, I thought this process was very easy as I am very familiar with powerpoint and I think it is fun to experiment with different designs and fonts to make sure the theme of the physical powerpoint fits well with the theme of my exhibit. For my powerpoint, I was able to find the perfect background design and fonts that went great with my theme as they were an old school design, very similar to something that you would find in the time period of the Harlem Renaissance. Overall I thought this was a fun project to create my own art exhibit, and the part I liked the most about this project was that fact that I was in charge of the whole process, as the exhibit could be created and organized my way, with my ideas.  

Module 13 & 14 Video Review

1. For each video list/discuss the key concepts you learned.

For the first video, The Lowdown on Lowbrow: West Coast Pop Art, the key concepts I learned from this video are just exactly what lowbrow art is, being that I have never really heard of it or seen it before. The video describes lowbrow art as outcast art, being more cartoon art and pornography, while they also didn't want to be categorized with traditional artists. When I see the artwork that they display in the video I don't think of it as traditional art that would be displayed in an art exhibit, I see it more as comic book or graffiti art. When looking at lowbrow art, it is very different, as it contains graphic images, naked women and very out of the box drawings of creatures. Overall I see how this style of lowbrow art can create a theme on its own and has the ability to create its own art exhibit for people who like to make or view this type of artwork. 

For the second video, Tate Modern (four part series), the key concepts I learned from this video are, what Tate modern art is and how it is displayed in exhibits. Before watching this video I didn't really know what to expect from it, but I was able to learn about Tate modern art and how modern it is compared to the traditional painting of objects and people. Some of the things I saw while watching the videos were, a video screen displaying some sort of art-like video, a variety of abstract artworks and the most interesting being a pile of bricks, which some people said in the video that it confused them and they didn't understand the meaning of a pile of bricks. They said in a later video how Tate modern art is an experience, I think this video does a good job showing how all of this unique artworks comes together to create a theme of modern art. 

For the third video, An Acquiring Mind: Philippe de Montebello and The Metropolitan, the key concepts I learned from this video are, how all artwork in the museum is not on display all of the time and all of the processes that are involved before they even display a piece of art. In the video they describe the large amount of artworks the museum has acquired over the years, but they also stated that while someone can go into the museum and find just about anything they are looking for, not all of their artworks are on display at all times, with a large amount being in museum storage. The other key concept I learned about was the great deal of prepping that has to take place before they display an artwork in the museum. In the video they describe how not every piece of artwork comes into the museum in perfect condition, the museums art conservation center is able to restore and preserve the artworks that come into the museum. Overall I thought this video was very interesting, learning about the history of The Met and the processes they take to make sure their artwork and exhibits are well taken care of. 

2. Do the videos relate to the creation of your Art Exhibition project? If yes, explain how. If no, explain why not.

For the first video, The Lowdown on Lowbrow: West Coast Pop Art, this video definitely related to the creation of my art exhibition project because it showed me exactly what a theme is, as their theme was lowbrow art of cartoon and pornography, being outcast artwork to traditional art. Overall I thought this was a very different video compared to the traditional ones we usually watch in this class, but it was a good video describing how a theme can be created for an art exhibit by putting together artworks that relate to each other. 

For the second video, Tate Modern (four part series), this video definitely relates to the creation of my Art Exhibition project due to the fact that the videos did a good job displaying how an art gallery is set up. But another thing this video was able to show is how all of Tate modern art, being this unique modern artwork, works together to create an interesting experience for the viewer, being that there is a variety of things to look at, but as a whole, this exhibit creates a theme of modern artwork. Overall I thought this video was very useful to show how unrelated subject matter can come together to present a theme as a whole in an art exhibit.  

For the third video, An Acquiring Mind: Philippe de Montebello and The Metropolitan, this video was able to relate a little in the creation of my Art Exhibition project because the video went into great deal about the history of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and all of their processes. They described how art exhibits are set up at that museum and how they are able to separate them by their themes. For example, you can go into one exhibit with an Egyptian theme and next walk into another exhibit relating to France, it shows how they like to keep their themes and subject matters that relate to each other together and not in some random order. I personally have been to The Met in NYC about 4 different times and every time I have been there it has almost been a completely different set up, so I know from experience that this museum does a good job with the set up of their art exhibits. 

3. What is your opinion of the films? Do they add depth to understanding of the art concepts you practiced while creating your curation project?

My opinions of the films were very good, as they were very helpful in understanding how a theme works, when creating an art exhibit, while also giving some history behind different types of artworks and exhibits. Overall I do think the three videos I watched added depth to understanding the art concepts I practiced while creating my curation project because it gave me a better understanding about how art exhibits work, how the work that is placed in them and how the works all relate to one and other. Overall I did find the three videos very helpful for this project because they all related to different themes of art, which was helpful because it gave a better understanding of how theme actually works and how artworks should be organized in an exhibition.