Reflections of AED 200

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

I expected to learn how to see art from a new perspective, different elements of design, be introduced to famous artists and their work, and I expect to have a new appreciation for art since I do not know much about art history. These expectations were met, I thought this class was going to be boring and I wouldn't care about the material but I learned a lot about art, and how it relates in my everyday life. 

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

Original Posting:

When I think of art the first thing that comes to mind is painting, drawing, sculptures, or museums. But I really think that art is an unique way to express ones emotions and individuality. Art is very subjective. What I think of when I see a piece of art can be completely different from someone else. Each piece can tell multiple stories.

I agree with my initial posting but I would add that art is all around us from architecture, rugs, vases, and culture that is often overlooked.  

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 original favorite artist was Bansky, but after taking this class I learned a lot about Andy Warhol and he is my new favorite. I love his use of advertising and commercialism in his work. I think I changed my favorite because I wasn't exposed to any of Banksy's art throughout the semester.  

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?

This was my first online class along with another I took this semester. Compared to the other this class is so well organized and efficient than my other class, I am so glad I took this class. My answer was the same as before, I am a commuter student and I love not having to drive 30 mins to class when I can just do it at home. You really have to be self motivated which I am, and I am really happy with my grade and the overall experience of this course. 

Project #5

1. Which projects did you review?
I looked through almost all of the art curation projects and liked a lot of them but ended up doing my article on the art exhibit Destruction of Happiness:Living Earth, created by Jeremy Roberts. 

2. Why did you select the Exhibit you critiqued?
I chose this exhibit because it had an interesting theme that is really evident in society today which is the destruction of the Earth through war and pollution. 

3. What challenges did you face in writing the critique article and how did you overcome them?
I thought it was hard to critique the exhibits because since all of the art was so similar I felt like I was running out of things to say. So to overcome this I looked on the creators blog to see what he wrote about his exhibit to get a better understanding of what he was trying to get across. 

4. How do you feel about critiquing your peers work?
I like writing about other people's work but I really enjoy reading what others have to say about mine, so I can better my work and see what my strengths and weaknesses are. 


5. Would you like to read the critique your peers wrote about your Art Curation Project?
Yes because as I stated before I really like hearing what other people think about my work, negative and positive. 

6. On a scale of 1-10 how would you rate your finished article and why?
I would rate my finished essay an 8 or 9. I feel like I gave a lot of detail about the exhibit and offered many suggestions for improvements and explained whether it was successful or unsuccessful. 

7. Did you enjoy working on this project?
I enjoyed putting my exhibit together but not so much the article. I don't enjoy writing papers like most college students, but two pages wasn't that bad, I was just running out of things to say after a while. 

Art Gallery Visit #3

Portrait of Mrs. A.G.M. van Ogtrop -Hanlo(1871-1944) and her five children
Therese Schwartze
1906
w198.5 x h175.3 cm

Madonna (Self- Portrait)
Cindy Sherman
1975
Gelatin Silver Print 

Profile Portrait of a Young Lady
Antonio del Pollaiuolo
1465
w362 x h522 cm
Oil on poplar wood

All portraits are from Google Art Project, I typed self- portraits into the search box so they didn't come from a specific gallery.


1. Why did you select the inspiration pieces?
I chose all portraits of women because I am also a women and would be creating my own self portrait similar to these. I also like how the women looked very glamorous and were posing how we would today even though the art is from a long time ago. 

2. Why did you select the media to create your self-portrait?
I chose pencil to draw the portrait and colored pencil to color it in. I chose these medias because they are something everyone has laying around the house and are easy to work with.

3. What challenges did you face in creating your self-portrait and how did you overcome them?
My biggest challenge is that I am horrible at drawing and trying to make myself look good in a drawing is hard when I can't get my vision across in a super creative way. But I tried my best despite my drawing skills. 

4. How does this piece represent you?
The piece represents me aesthetically and my personality, since I am smiling and it is just a basic everyday photo. 

5. What elements and principles of art did you apply in this work?
I used shape with the face, nose, and eyes, line for the hair, and color to make the portrait look better and show who I am. Such as skin color, hair color, and eye color. The hair and freckles give the 2D drawing texture. 

6. Did you enjoy working on this project?
I enjoy the art making projects because I don't every sit down and draw or paint and in my everyday life and this is nice break from essays and tests, since there is no right or wrong answers. 

7. What do you think of your final artwork?
I think my final artwork slightly looks like me, but if the original photo wasn't with it friends or family may not be able to know that it is me because I am the furthest thing from an artist. 

Module 15 Video Blog

#1. Key Concepts:

Jackson Pollock: Michael Fried and T.J. Clark in Conversation

-Pollock is an enormously important modernist master

-Clark’s emphasis is on the historical role of modern art while Fried is focused on the independence of its aesthetic

-Both are committed to a historical way of looking at art

-Fried strongly dislikes the description of art in vulgar existentialist terms

-T.J Clark is a social historian that has been concerned with relating art to other human action

- Studying Lavender Mist: compressed energy of the painting surface

-Autumn Rhythm: Pollock focused on pictorial elements VS fragility

The Colonial Encounter: Views of Non-Western  Art and Culture

-Dahome art, visually beautiful but treated as a craft

-The 1900 Paris World Fair

-Colonial Images

-Images of African people showed violent behavior toward each other

-The shark symbolizes Dahome’s determination to protect its chores

-Algerian exhibition

-Racial differences

-Shows the ways in which Western prejudice, ethnography, and art consumption have counteracted authentic intercultural dialogue

#2. The videos showed that when critiquing art people can have varying interpretations of an artist’s work. This shows that the artist’s intentions for their work may not always translate to everyone on the same way. This was shown through Michael Fried and T.J Clarks conflicting views on the work of Jackson Pollock.

#3. I learned that art criticism must involve some sort of argument about the basis of the critic’s judgment. Also intuition and reasoning are an important part of art criticism

Project #4 Reflection

I found it easy to think of ideas for a theme for the art curator exhibition project. At first I wanted to do a 70's/bohemian themed exhibit, but found it hard to find artworks that matched that theme. So I came across a lot of nature related artworks such as flowers, animals and mountains while doing further research. I ended up choosing beaches as my theme. I named the exhibit "I Can Still Hear The Waves" since a majority of the artworks focused on the waves of the ocean, and the painting depicted real life beaches and are so detailed that the viewer feels like they are really on a sunny and exotic beach with the waves crashing down. I chose a font for the title that reminded me of writing your name into the sand , and the backgrounds for all of the slides was a pale blue that gives the exhibit a sense of calmness throughout the collection. I couldn't use the Bradley Hand font throughout the whole exhibit because I felt like it made the words hard to read, but I would have liked to use it. Also I arranged the artworks in a sequence from sunrise to sunset. So by going through the whole collection you kind of get to see a full day at the beach. From the calmness of the morning, to a beach party, to sunset, and to the darkness of the night. The websites that were given in the resource section were very helpful and made putting the PowerPoint together, really quick and easy. I had the most trouble with writing about the artworks since they are all about the beach it got very repetitive. But other than that I had no trouble coming up with a concept and putting it all together with fonts, colors and backgrounds that helped to reinforce my chosen theme better.

Module #13 & #14

#1.  Key Concepts:

The Lowdown on Lowbrow: West Coast Pop Art

-Lowbrow art is art that isn’t categorized as any other type of art, it is a class all its own

-Pop culture, car culture, and folk art have had major influences in the genre

-Lowbrow had pop culture and consumer references

- Some galleries were not willing to display Lowbrow art

-There was unwillingness of the mainstream art world to accept Lowbrow

-Emergence of female artists in Lowbrow

-The punk rock generation propelled Lowbrow art culture

Displaying Modern Art: The Tate Approach

-The intellectual and aesthetic issues associated with the display of art

-Typically art was displayed in chronological order, representing each art movement

- Also the art was displayed on white walls with flexible lighting

-In 1970, these traditional way were questioned and art came off the walls to become busy and noisy

- The Tate Modern display approach

-Tate provided striking and often abrupt transitions between the individual display rooms

- Critics believed art should be more than entertainment

Bones of Contention: Native American Archaeology

-The remains of more than 10,000 Native Americans unearthed at archaeological sites across the U.S are in the possession of museums like the Smithsonian

-Anthropologists differ on whether or not the remains should be returned to their ancestors

-Now, Native Americans design the exhibits in New York’s Native American Museum

- Ancestors’ bones continue to be brought home

-Archaeology must share responsibility for stewarding the past

An Acquiring Mind: Philippe de Montebello and The Metropolitan

-Philippe de Montebello

- Served for 31 years as Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

-He guided the acquisition of more than 84,000 works of art

-He also demanded innovation in conservation techniques, and oversaw the doubling of the physical size of the institution

#2. The videos relate to the creation of my Art Exhibition project, since they talked about what type of art should be in an exhibit, how it should be displayed, what influences art displays, and what shouldn’t be a part of an exhibit.

#3. My favorite film was the The Lowdown on Lowbrow: West Coast Pop Art, it was like an exhibit that had no theme, which is the opposite of our project. But it was interesting to learn about Lowbrow which I’ve never heard of.

Module #12 Video Review

#1 I chose the video Andy Warhol: Images of an Image because I really like his work and the way he incorporates advertising into his work. I also chose the video Abstract Expressionism and Pop: Art of the ’50s and ’60s because I like the emotion surrounding the expressionism movement and because the 60’s was my favorite decade.

#2. Key Concepts

Andy Warhol: Images of an Image:

-Was a commercial artist and used advertising images in his work

-Was inspired by famous women such as Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor

-Used silk screening

-Photographs were blown up and developed onto silk screens, then transferred to paper and canvas using ink and paint

-Ten Lizes, 1963

-Used consumer products as repeated silk screen images

-Shot about 100 films

- Produced dozens of self portraits

-His work addressed race riots, the conquest of the moon, the cultural revolution in China, and the universal reign of the dollar

 Abstract Expressionism and Pop: Art of the ’50s and ’60s:

-Abstract Expressionism was born from joining the attitudes of American art and European avant-garde art

-It was later rejected for its nonfigurative and egocentric character and replaced by the ultra- objective phenomenon, Pop Art

-The video shows how various artists used expressionism in their art and the change to Pop Art

-Frankenthaler: feminine and mystical, and makes the observer experience a warming and exhilarating sense of fruitfulness (expressionism)

- Andy Warhol: most famous artist of the Pop Art movement, the first 20^th Century art movement since Futurism to embrace the rhythms of city life

#3. The videos and the text both talk about when and how the Expressionism and Pop Art movement started, art works and artists during these movements, and what inspired Andy Warhol’s commercial and advertising based art.

#4. The films helped me to learn about the leaders of these art movements and the characteristics involved with these works of arts that define Expressionism and Pop Art.