Why do people make art?

I think different people create art for many different reasons. First and foremost I think people who are serious artists make it because they like to. It would be hard to be a professional artist and hate the process of producing art. For some I think art serves as a hobby, a release of emotions and form of self expression. Others may make it to tap into some emotions or convey a story, anything they believe in. I think people don't make art for other people, people make art for themselves. Of course for those talented and passionate enough about art to make it a career they have the pressure of making a profit weighing down on them in a way that may positively or negatively effect their product, but the pressure or bringing in a salary keeps them productive. I think people make art for the same reason others play instruments or write novels. Something in your soul inspires to create and free yourself translating it into a physical manifestation. Art is not always about making you feel good though, sometimes we need to create to evoke some emotion in ourselves or one we feel others need to recognize. People can also use art and images as a manipulation tool in advertisements and propaganda. With all art we are trying to instigate some sort of reaction in ourselves or in our audience.

4 hour project

What makes this project so different from the others we have done is that it is so independent. We were required to think deeply not only about what our skills are but what we are passionate about and what has inspired so far this term. Before we were presented with a challenge of some sort and had to work it out ourselves, this time we had the added pressure of choosing a project that would challenge us just enough so we would be pushed to create and showcase our best work. This term the drawing and sketching has been my favorite thing, I look forward to every thursday for drop everything and draw and have practiced sketching in my sketchbook when there was no assignment. So when this project came around I instantly knew I wanted to draw something. Then came the question of whether to draw an inanimate object or a person. As I looked around the class room for inspiration I knew I wanted to draw the sculpture of the hand. This was the perfect compromise. Everyday I have come in to art class I have looked at that hand and wanted to duplicate it. I thought I would put it on the floor to enhance the lost feeling it has. Looking at it alone on the floor I thought it looked too lonely so I decided to add another object that would be symbolic. At first I wanted to draw a pocket watch to show how we have no handle on time but realized that would be to hard of a challenge in our time restraint. After talking about it with Ms. Roberts I decided a light bulb could provide a similar effect. It was not until I finished that I thought of naming the picture mente e manu, hand and mind, the motto of our school. When I was sitting on the floor drawing actually drawing it there were multiple times that I felt stuck, not knowing what to draw next and frustrated it did not look more realistic. It took a while but as it started to take shape I became more confident with shading and it really took off. With helpful tips from Ms. Roberts and Mr. Brooks I am really proud of what I created and I think it shows where I am in learning to sketch so far.

The Book Project: progress and planning

When I first saw my photo I thought about how miserable the man looked, it was not until I picked the second picture I wanted to work with did I decide that one looked like a younger version of the other. I started planning out pictures to highlight times in this persons life that help describe why he is so sad looking in the final picture. In my original sketches I showed different instances where anyone would be miserable but as I am creating those pictures I feel they do not hold together as well as I would have hoped. My biggest problem is where I stop using the young boy and start using the old, I am worried my viewer might not make the connection that they are meant to be the same person only older. What is going well though, is that although I am putting time and energy into each picture I am working efficiently and getting things done.

Drawing the Human Form From Inside Out

I think the goals of todays exercise were to get us to look at the human form as a series of general shapes and less in the hyper-detailed way feel stressed to do. We also heard Ms. Roberts say "draw what you see not what you think is there" so this, like most drop everything and draw exercises, was to reinforce that concept. Also the focus on proportion (one of the principles of design) has been a major topic this week and this class was to drum it harder into our heads. Although I do not particularly like the drawings I created I think I achieved creating the general shape and image of people who are more or less proportionate. For me it was more interesting to see how other people aproached drawing the same subject and how although none were better or worse they were all different. A major challenge I faced, besides my easel breaking then falling on my head and giving a splinter, was drawing from the inside out. Constantly I had the urge to draw something else first, but I think this really made keeping things in proportion easier than if I had started with the head.

Shades of Grey

The goal of todays exercise was to carve out forms from our paper by using shading and erasers as our pencil. By doing this we were forced to take shading into account to make our drawings look realistic. Whereas we might not think to do this, or to shade to this extreme if we were left to our own devices, but here were depended on the shading of each object to bring it to life.

I think my drawing came out okay, but I am always very critical of my own work. I think you could see each object. If I had started out my drawing by making the background all around darker I think each thing would have stood out more, whereas right now my drawing feels very....safe.

NightHawks

By: Edward Hopper

Born: Nyack, New York (1882-1967)

Made:1942

Medium: Oil Paint

Overall I really like this painting. The contrast of the harsh lights inside to the gloomy darkness that exists oustide the bar makes the painting in a whole feel solemn. You really dont get the feeling you want to be in the bar or outside. There is also the contrast of the couple to the singular man. This makes you see the range of people in different walks of life who all co-exist in one city. What makes this painting so special for me is the awkward angle that the restaurant is set at. You feel as if you are so near the bar because of how close you feel to it on one side, though at the same time the people sitting at the other side seem just out of reach, Like although you are so close to where they are they are miles away spinning in their own thoughts. Each character brings an element to the piece as well. They all seem very different, the couple brings a fancy feel but with the distinct impression that is a facade, while the man sitting alone is more blunt with his message of loneliness. The waiter, in his old age gives the essence of desperation and expiration. To me the man sitting alone is the most intriguing, since you cant see his face.

Hopper, born in Nyack, Ny in 1882 was a pupil of Robert Henri. Hoppers style and taste was greatly influenced by his schooling, which was geared toward creating images of the city. This is how NightHawks came to be. When interviewed he said this piece was meant to convey the loneliness of a city. Originally this very diner stood on Grenwich Ave. in Nyc but is no longer there. There are many aspects of this painting that show the feeling of entrapment, for instance there is no way our of the bar area let alone the diner itself.

Although this paintings balance is clearly tipped to the right, you do not feel that something has just thrown you. It is clear where the emphasis is meant to go with the contrast of the bright restaurant to the dark outside, and since all the people are located in one area you eye is immediately drawn there. The curved sidewalk is also very suggestive, it leads your eye to the restaurant. The single man is also located in the general area that is the center which naturally catches your attention.

Finding Balance

Almost symmetrical

Radial symmetry

Symmetric

Asymmetrical, yet balanced

The principles of design

Principles of design: this set of rules that help artists from whatever they are working on

vocab

Balance: when the visual "weight" of an an artwork feels equally distributed

-symmetry

mirror image

-approximately symmetrical

almost mirror image feeling of symmetry

-asymmetry

opposite of symmetric yet still could be balanced

-radial balance

coming out from the middle (circular) infinite lines of symmetry

Emphasis:

rhythm and movement:

proportion:

unity: feeling that everything works together, if something was missing it would be incomplete

variety: having some differences in shapes, colors, forms, order, etc.

Emphasis:

Placement: where it is on the page

Contrast: color on color/contrasting colors

grouping: lots of the same thing around one different thing, little elements around inportant also their pose, arrows.

RHYTHM & MOVEMENT:

Repition:

-same elements

-alternating elements

-progression=things getting smaller or change colors

Leading Lines: lines that draw your eye to the main subject

Implied Movement: someone/thing thats been moving. an illusion to make you believe they are

in motion. repition

Optical movement: a line or shape that repeates that makes you feel

like its moving (optical illusion)

Actual movement: art and engineering fusion

PROPORTION: size relationships within the painting or sculpture

Colors>

Shapes> all to evoke emotion/story/emphasis

Forms>

Reflecting on Found Object Sculpture

I first started with a jelly bean (gumball type) machine. Immediately I knew I wanted to use that for a head on my sculpture. Then I started playing around with putting the facial features inside the globe. It wasn't until sarah lent me purple yarn to use as hair that I decided to make it clown like. Then I found the door handle for a mouth and decided on the pot for the body and the rest just flowed. I think I did not take much away from todays critique about my personal work but I really enjoyed the chance to get to see other peoples thought process and how they took this project differently then I did. My favorite part of my piece in terms of creativity were the door handle for a mouth, a hair pick for a hand (with lots of fingers), and a skrew as a propeller on the hat. The shoes were a last minute addition that added to the big footed clown look but I wish I had used a more original material.

Mid-Term Reflection

So far in this class I feel I have tried really hard to be as open to new ideas as possible. The thing I struggle with a lot is getting frustrated with my self and the outcome of a project. Although this can sometimes get me down, like in the charcoal exercise, I really do enjoy things like this. I try to stay as enthusiastic as I can. I know I talk a lot. I always mean for my input to be constructive but I know sometimes I will get a little too chatty. This term I have arrived to class late more than what is acceptable but I try really hard to compensate that with being committed to each exercise. I gave my "emotional lines" lots of thought especially about the shading and color. This unit I think what I have really learned is to work with color. Usually I enjoy to more deal with color then really manipulate it and use it to push my piece forward. As far as general energy level and inspiration I think most of my pieces so far have been pretty "inspired". In every x-block I have taken my own initiative to work in my sketchbook. Lately I am on in a chair faze. Overall I really like art class and feel that I have put lots of energy into all of the assignments.

What is it the sack?

Today the goals set by Ms Roberts:

-go from general to specific

-move quickly

-use shadowing and light to make the bags come alive

My goals for my self:

-Make something that actually might possibly look something like what I was actually trying to draw

The goals I actually achieved:

umm....

well I think I went from general to specific okay but I have always been one to draw slow. I think I focused to much on the detail and frustration and less on the image I was creating. As far as it goes for achieving the goal I set for my self well... look at the picture

The Changing Still Life

This insane goal felt like alice in wonderland we had to run as fast as we could to stay exactly where we were. Literally we had to erase non stop and draw non stop. We had no time to mourn over the loss of a perfectly drawn cup it was just go. go. go. It all felt a little like the race we run in high school. We have to keep up with the current events and let go of last years jokes and when we stopped to take a breath all we had was a blur. Its hard to do, but it was an adrenaline rush. To tell the truth I did not hate the final product as much as I thought I might. I enjoyed it, but might not want to have to do it all again. Sorta like high school

The Potential of Found Objects

The great thing about found objects is the imagination put into making them into sculptures. You have to look at every piece from every angle and decide whether or not it portrays the type of image or emotion or thing your are trying to get across. You also have the ability to manipulate them in any way you choose, for instance, the statue of the bull many collected pieces of junk twisted and molded to form the recognizable shape of a bull. When working with found objects you can also play off of their unique shapes and parts. Like in the dog statue the artist chose to use the round parts of the lamp to symbolize the legs as apposed to four stick like things which may have appeared more realistic.

Ingrid Calame

This seems familiar in the sense that her motivation is to document and understand the complicated world around her. Deep inside this is a question we each wrestle with our self. She tries to capture the essence of life and death in the simple images we see and take for granted. Her analytical thought is something I feel I have seen more in writing, although in the video her pictures said much more than she could, as she did struggle to explain herself. It seems as if she uses art as a way to get a grasp on life, something everyone is trying to do.

Who is Ingrid Calame? Well she is many things, on the bottom line she is an artist but above that she is a person, and she is dealing with the questions being a person arouses. Ingrid Calame creates her paintings by first tracing everyday shapes and forms we see such as tire skuff marks on high ways, or graffiti. Then she over lays many traces she had created to make a fusion of the different emotions expressed in each form. The next step in her process is to paint the different shapes so they are just barely recognizable. She plays with color to twist and manipulate the feeling in each shape. Only she knows the real reason she does her art, but as far as she shared her motivation is not only the passion for creating she so obviously has but it is also the have a greater understanding, larger than herself.

Reflecting on my first critique

While sitting in the "living room" and listening to Ms. Roberts give instructions for the critique I thought it would be a piece of cake. Usually I am totally comfortable speaking in front of my peers and talking about my work but in those moments where there was no talking at all and I had to stand by listening, I felt the butterflies flittering in my stomach. Although it was very casual and I still felt the jumpy feeling when you know your under a microscope. I though my peers did an excellent job of analyzing my piece. They thought critically about what each symbol meant, and looked at each artistic detail I attempted to incorporate. Although we did not spend to long on each piece I think it was a positive experience and it was a nice check in. It was good to know people are really seeing the work you are doing.

Reflecting on first full week.

Over the past week we have completed exercises such as verbally describing art, Collaborative Drawings, pour paintings, and mapping still lifes. Although one could argue these exercises are random and unconnected if you look at the fundamentals these lessons stress you will find a common trend. In each of these activities we were asked to analyze and think critically about very different types of art. None of the different projects we completed were given to us straight on, each presented its own challenge and unique twist. We never were assigned to look at an object and draw exactly what we saw, we had to work around our obstacles, whether they be unplanned splatter, each other, or simply guidelines set into place we all had to think creatively to come up with a product. In each of these we also practiced basic drawing which helps develop the hand eye coordination that is vital when learning the basics of art.

re visiting observation/description activity

Well, although it the picture Mia created is not exactly the same as the original there are many similarities. (Many more than my picture had) the location of the shapes and shades are almost dead on although they do not mesh together the way they do in the original. She really got the atmosphere of the piece in its lineless simplicity and blurred effect. If I were to do this differently I would recommend materials such as cray pas and stress the lack of definitive shapes and tones.

Spill pictures

In my painting I see.....

a lions head

a tail

fire breath

an eye

a mouth

a snake

a flower

and a red mouse

Giving Up Control: POURS

Giving up control and letting go of the need to make definite lines was interesting. Once we got past the messiness of the paint it was fun to embrace the messiness of the image itself. Watching the colors merge and dry in different shades than we had originally planned it was exciting, we stood witness as spirals formed and mushed. It was fascinating to see what the materials would do if we left them up to their own devices and let the art form itself.

collaborative drawing

Collaborative drawing, was at times, very frustrating. When you have another person working on something you have invested yourself into it can hard. They add some of themselves into what you made, and sometimes you do not like the final product. (this says a lot about failed relationships) I started my picture based in a tropic setting, so when I came back to see an igloo had been added I was less then ecstatic. I started out with a vision for this piece which was then blurred by other peoples inputs, opinions, and tastes. In the end I just had to laugh and accept the igloo palm tree heaven day night mess, because thats all you can do otherwise you will never be open to others views

homework due 9/21

1.An artist is someone who channels their personal creativity through physical expression

2. It means to think critically, abstractly, or to be actively inspired by an object or image.

3. An artist not only needs an open mind but the physical material to paint, sculpt, write, or whatever their craft needs. They need inspiration, modivation, and to more than anything love what they are doing!

Call

Otto Steinert. Germany. 1950

First Impressions:

The dark figure in the city scene gives the piece sense of mischief or urgency. The overall darkness of the photo adds intrigue.

It was taken just before WWII. The artist was said to be the founder of subjective photography movement.