M10 - Mask Making

Better late than never? I started this project when it was initially due and then grew frustrated that I couldnt get it to appear on paper as it did in my head. I used three different masks as inspiration,

I really loved the colors and symmetry in this Dayak mask from Borneo, and the small horns at the side. It reminds me of something you might see on a totem pole and I appreciate the simple colors and lines that still manage to create an interesting mask. I felt like the teeth they carved into this one looked really different from most of the other masks so I included a bit more of a cartoon-y version of them on mine.

This Javanese mask had a similar color pallet to the mask from Borneo, and even some of the lines and patterns they used seemed like one may have inspired the other but theyre still both very different. This one comes off as a little softer and more similar to a human face where the mask from Borneo is sharper and more geometric looking.

This Maori mask from New Zealand was really my favorite, and a lot about their culture has always interested me. Im a fan of symmetry and am really intrigued by these symmetrical tattoo carvings this mask has, especially the carvings on the nose. This one also has interesting teeth as the Borneo mask above does, but the eyes are much more realistic looking.

Now that I see this guy I've created next to the others, he seems to look too much like a cartoon character but I feel like it gets some of my ideas across. I wanted some of the symmetry and line work that the Maori mask had, I like how the lines on that mask really help the viewer move through the whole thing, but I didnt want him to have as much of a "warrior" look as that one did. If I were able to actually craft this one in 3d, I'd love for his eyes to be made of gold and the teeth to be made of bone. I wanted to make sure he stayed symmetrical but that one side of his face was just a little bit different than the other.

M15 Extra Credit

1. Which assignment did you ENJOY working on the best? Why?

My favorite assignment was definitely from M13 where we got to "curate" our own exhibit. This one was the easiest and most fun for me to get through since it allowed for some level of creativity and I could explore artists that I liked rather than just the ones that were assigned.

2. Which assignment did you ENJOY working on the least? Why?

 I dont think I had a least favorite assignment, but the ones that required us to watch really old videos weren't at the top of my list. I do realize that sometimes that's just what is available as far as educational content, just some of the old white dudes were really annoying to listen to (please insert a shoulder shrug here)

3. How did you like using BLACKBOARD?

Blackboard is not awful. For the most part its pretty easy to navigate and I didn't have any technological issues with it this semester.

4. What is your opinion of the Discussion Groups in this course?

I do not love discussion groups online in general. I understand the point behind them and that with an online class there;s no other option, I just feel like tone and intention are much different on there than they might be in real life.

5. Did you participate in any of the extra credit projects in previous modules? If so, what was your opinion of them? (mandala, elgin marbles, culture, art critics)

I did participate in a few and I really enjoyed both. I liked having a project that sent me out to do my own research rather than just regurgitating information from a video.
6. If you had the opportunity to change this course:

What would you keep? I enjoyed all of the topics we covered, and definitely the curator project.

What would you remove? I did not love having to comment on fellow students blogs and thought that it just felt phony and insincere.

What would you add? I really enjoyed the art critic extra credit assignment and feel like that's something that should be chatted about more in class

7. Would you recommend this course to your peers?

For sure, as long as they are comfortable with an online class. I truly struggled with a lot of different aspects of this class (most of them were my own issues with self motivation and had nothing to do with the actual course/instructor/content)

Reflection

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

I didnt have too many expectations for this course, and mostly took it because it fulfills a requirement but I was interested to learn a little more art history. Now that the semester is about over, I do wish I would have participated a bit more and read the material more thoroughly but I do feel like I have a better handle on different concepts and elements and principles of design.

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

I initially said that art is whatever a person says as art, and to some extent I still believe that to be true. I think its hard to put a real-life definition to the word "art", a urinal in an art gallery is art and a banana taped to a wall is art so at that point, pretty much anything the creator decides is art, is.

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?

 I have spent more time in this class and in another focusing a lot on female artists and their lack of representation in art galleries, and since we've been trapped at home I'm re-watched Beautiful Losers multiple times just to see Margaret Kilgallen and Barry McGee in action so I still hold them toward the top of my list. I appreciate that they worked so well together as a team, and that even after Margaret passed away, Barry included some of Margarets work in some of his exhibits. Graffiti is always something that interests me and I feel like they truly did it/do it the right way. In the movie "Beautiful Losers" Margaret talks a lot about how she paints and what she focuses on, how she can go over a line again and a again to try and make it straight, "When you get up close you can always see theline waver & I think thats where the beauty is". 

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?

I honestly dread the day I have to take another online course but Im sure this is probably the direction a lot of classes are heading. I've learned that if Im not in a classroom, Im not very self-motivated and I really struggle to get things done on time. Hopefully the next time around Ill tackle assignments when theyre due instead of 5-10 days later.

M14 - Self Portrait

Andy Warhol - Self-Portrait 1978
Salvador Dali - Soft Self-Portrait with Grilled Bacon 1941
David Hockney - Self-Portrait - 1954

1. Why did you select the inspiration pieces?
I felt like I wanted to collect a variety of styles of self-portraits, and these were three that I wasnt very familiar with before this assignment. All three are different mediums as well which I found interesting.
2. Why did you select the media to create your self-portrait?
Honestly, being at home for this long I've mostly run out of a lot of materials with the exception of the magazines that show up that I never throw away. Collage has never been something I was great at and it looks a bit like something a 4th grader might make in a craft class, but in my dream land it would have turned out more like David Hockney's piece.
3. What challenges did you face in creating your self-portrait and how did you overcome them?
Lack of materials. I usually have a lot of paint on hand but have run out of most everything in the last few weeks. Even with the stack of magazines I did have to go through, it was really hard for me to find large sections of the same color to kind of build something a little more realistic.
4. How does this piece represent you?
Well since its a collage of stuff I've cut out of the food magazines I get, I feel like it covers a lot of bases for me. There's a bit of a face in it, as well as some really great modern furniture and a lot of food, including waffles. A pile of my priorities in a mish-mosh of cut of magazine pages.
5. What elements and principles of art did you apply in this work?
I did try to make sure it had some balance to it, and worked to continue to lines throughout so it has more of a shape.
6. Did you enjoy working on this project?
I actually really did. Though I didnt have all of the materials I would have liked, it was a really calming thing to work on so it did a nice job to really keep me distracted from chaos for a bit.
7. What do you think of your final artwork?
I think it turned out alright, though I've got no plans to show it off to friends and family.

Week 13 Video Review

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

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?

The videos defintely relate to the creation of my Art Exhibition project. I feel like it was helpful to see and hear the whole process they go through in deciding what pieces to purchase for the gallery and in choosing which ones make their way into a show. 

I found the woman at MoMA much more interesting and easy to listen to, and I appreciated the questions she answered at the end of the video. I feel like thats an important thing to do, to include people that may not have otherwise stopped into a gallery or thought twice about art. The curator at the Met, Montebello, was a little harder to relate to. I do appreciate all of the work that hes done and cant imagine the wealth of knowledge he has but was much more intrigued by the "trip" to MoMA.

the 'Lowbrow" art documentary was very cool, and touched on different art and artists that I never would have thought even fit into that category. I do feel like some of the things the artists in that video talked about had a bigger impact on the decisions I made for my "art exhibit" than the other two videos. Something about cheering for the underdog.

Week 13

Not that I havent enjoyed some of the things we've done in this class, but any chance to be creative and get to dig around and look for art that I like is fantastic especially after being trapped at home for six weeks and with zero ability to focus on anything Im not interested in.

I probably should have mentioned my theme at the start of my powerpoint but it felt more important to leave it until the end. I dont know that I've even noticed the lack of woman-made art work the last time I went to a big gallery, but the more I read about it the more it seems like something that really needs to be fixed. It's not even a matter of the quality of work, women are making art that IS as good or better than men. I even read about an experiment they did, creating a large group of computer-generated art and showing it to a bunch of volunteers. The volunteers assumed that the more compelling art was made by men, and the less interesting pieces by women, even though every piece was actually created by a computer. Im not sure what the solution is to this problem, as its been going on for so long and there are so many moving parts, but it doesnt seem like a lot of important parts of art history might be forgotten if women dont start showing up on gallery walls.
I really enjoyed the opportunity to search for some of my favorite artists, and then find some others that I had never heard of to include alongside them. I tried to pick a variety of styles of pieces and a mix of paintings and sculptures and installations as well. Discovering so many of these women in my "exhibit" for the first time makes it more apparent that they really arent getting enough coverage, and I feel like now I need to spend the time to get to know more of their work on my own.

module 12

 I really enjoyed the videos in this module. I feel embarrassed to say that I havent heard of a few artists that came up in this section, so the videos were really helpful and now I feel like I need to do more research on them and their work.I appreciated the background that Jacob Lawrence gave, talking about what it was like to be making art during the great depression and being raised in Harlem, the art centers that opened and the "positive effect it had on the spirit of the people". They did also touch on his work and how content is an important element for him when creating.

Faith Ringgold is much more my style. Her work is very folk-y and fun, the story-quilts are interesting and some of the figures she paints remind me of Margaret Kilgallen. Romare Beardens work really tells a story from beginning to end,and I appreciate that the speakers in the video gave a sort of run-down on so many of them, explaining the different myths he was drawing inspiration from as some of them are not too fresh in my head. The shapes he creates in his collage work really is impressive, I feel like its hard to imagine a shape like that and cut it out without sketching it first so Im curious to know a little more about his process. The blues and greens he uses really give his pieces a lot of definition and depth, and since so many of them include a landscape it helps to show distance and space in the piece. 

"Classical Art/Modern Dress" and the two videos that went with it were hard for me to get into.Though the last interview with Norma Kamali was really neat and I think its nice to hear a fashion designer with views like hers, a little more focused on the actual person rather than just the people filling the seats at a fashion show. 

FAUVISM, now this I can get into. Finally, in 1900, artists started to dive into bright expressive colors. Color exists for these painters as an independent element instead of just something that describes an object or space. Their work feels more emotional to me than that of the impressionists. Brighter, bolder brushwork really changed the game moving forward.