Self Portrait

 Stephen F Condren 4/13/2010

Leanne Franson  Montreal, Quebec, Canada Feburary 15, 2011  A self-employed artist, with a home studio, working in children's illustration and cartooning.

Brian Duey 12-3-2009  12 x 18 on tinted paper

I selected these self portriats because I planned on doing a pencil self porait.  I chose the pencil medium because I have worked with it on some projects this year.  The challenges faced were not enough experience with drawing, I just had to do the best I could.  I used shape, emphasis, and color.   I was not looking forward to doing this project but it ended up being fun.  The final project was challenging I would of rather drawn something or someone else, but its done.

Reflections

My expectations for this course were to understand and appreciate art.  I have definitely learned a lot about art: Elements and Principles of Design, all that goes into old historical sculptures, different techniques of painting.  My definition of art would remain the same; Art is something that makes us think and be more thoughtful and a well rounded person. Art is all around us every day in our lives.  In my original posting I did not have a favorite artist, now my favorite artist Andy Worhol because his paintings are different and he mimics real people in some of his paintings.  I have taking online classes before and this class definitely had a lot more work involved with it.  Also I was expecting this class to be only 3 weeks or I probably would not have taken it, it consumed most of my summer and I’m glad it is done.   The class was very organized and interesting but very time consuming.  

Art Criticism Article

I reviewed all the projects because I was curious to see everyone’s ideas.  There were two that I had to choose between, they were Emily Krolewicz, “More Than Meets the Eye” and Mike Farrell, “Outside Looking In”.  I chose Mike Farrell, Outside Looking In” to critique because the pieces he chose were of landscape which I enjoyed.  It was hard to critique another student’s work and have it be two pages long, but once I started it seems to flow.  I’m no art expert so it was hard to critique the exhibit.  I would like to read the critiques about my project.  My critique article is a 10 for all the time and thought put into it.  I did enjoy this project but I think if we had known about it soon we could have worked on it and not had to do so much work in the last week.

Week 11 Video Blog

Greenberg on Art Criticism: An interview by T. J. Clark

In 1981 they discussed the evolution of art criticism and issues surrounding modernist painting.  They discussed the relationship between art and history, the value judgment in criticism and America’s post WWII “Culture Boom”.

Greenberg on Pollack: An interview by T. J. Clark

Discussion was about Jackson Pollock, the abstract expressionist after his death.  Pollock was an outsider, with freakist techniques.  Greenberg says the painter was practical and unpretentious.  They discussed the “death of easel painting”.  Pollock was associated with Dionysian painting.  Pollock’s “drip” paintings can be characterized as Apollonian rather than Dionysian.  Pollock remained a solitary figure. 

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

1900 Paris World’s Fair lasted 8 months largest fair ever held.  Half the area was devoted to French imperialism and the rest represented other nations’ colonies.  Images of African people showed violent behavior toward each other.  The shark symbolizes Dahome’s determination to protect its shores.    The Trocadero Museum is the French monument at the heart of the colonial exhibition at the 1900 World Fair. 

These videos discuss the exhibits from the 1900 World Fair and interviews with Greenberg on art Criticism which relates to this week s lesson.  The Greenberg Interviews were confusing  but the The Colonial Encounter was interesting. 

Art Curator - Project 4

I tried to include several different types of works. The incredible beauty of many flowers has given them added importance as decorative objects. Flowers are also an almost endless source of inspiration for poetry, stories and myths. Flower symbolism has existed almost as long as flowers themselves.
Artwork can be chosen with flower symbolism in mind. In addition, some flowers are associated with particular artists. Monet is famous for his water lilies, Georgia O’Keeffe is best known for her sensuous calla lilies and Vincent Van Gogh is associated with his portraits of sunflowers. Flower, tree, landscape symbolism are among the more prominent forms of symbolism that can add healing value to art. The continuing emergence of abstract art threatened the place of flower paintings in realism. Although the prosaic gardenscapes and still-life images traditional in flower paintings were relegated to the past during this period, the versatile forms of flowers actually revealed tremendous potential for more abstract images.
Georgia O'Keeffe successfully returned the flower to prominence with her series of close-ups of calla lilies. She wanted to have the viewer really look at the fundamental form of the flower without any preconceived notions. Her sensual flowers redefined the flower as a pure, almost geometric form.
The walls would be a light blue color like the background of the PowerPoint because the flower artworks are colorful enough that the background should be plain. 

Video Review Week 10

The Lowdown of Lowbrow: West Coast Pop Art

Lowbrow is art that cannot be categorized.  The definition is a person regarded as uncultivated and lacking in taste.  Lowbrow art appeals to the masses.  Comic books, pop culture, car culture and folk art have both had major influences in the genre.   Lisa Petrruci says the art is more relatable that esoteric art.  The Laguna Art Museum put on a show featuring Ed Roth, Von Dutch, and Robert Williams.  MAD magazine had impact on art culture.  These unaccepted artists created their own art scene after being shut out from museums and galleries.  Lowbrow and pop culture are in California.  Artists were able to get their work to the masses in the form of album covers and fliers.  Lowbrow has gained more recognition and acceptance over the last ten years. 

Displaying Modern Art: The Tate Approach

Modern art was displayed primarily in chronological order representing each art movement.  By the 1970s art came off the walls to become busy and noisy.  Tate Modern displayed its modern art in four sections overarching principle provides a theme for the selection and exhibition of the selections of modern art.   Critics say the thematic presentation of art requires that viewers have no knowledge of art and art should be more than entertainment. 

Bones of Contention: Native American Archaeology

Museums have collected Native Americans’ bones; Anthropologists say the remains should be returned to their ancestors.  Maria, a Yankton Sioux, fights for the bones taken for study.  Anglo bones were reburied but Native bones are studied.  David Van Horn was a field archaeologist charged with criminal possession of Native human bone fragments.  The Smithsonian’s inventory reveals that 18,000 Native’s bones are stored there.  Scientists first have to determine the bones tribal affiliation.  Scientists have learned a lot about health problems by studying the remains of human beings from the past. 

George Eastman House: Picture Perfect

George Eastman was the father of popular photography and founder of Eastman Kodak Company.  He created the first affordable, user-friendly camera.  The George Eastman House is one of the world’s premiere motion pictures archives.  George Eastman’s world revolved around his work and around philanthropy.  It offers collections of 140,000 online images that celebrate the art, technology and impact of photography and motion pictures.

The videos explored different means of artwork however I watched them after I had decided on my theme, so the only help was to learn that the George Eastman House has 140,000 online images.  The videos were interesting and helpful to understanding the art concepts used in creating our curation project. 

Video Review Week 9

I chose the Abstract Expressionism and Pop because I like Abstract paintings.  I also like Modern art so I watched the video on Modernity and Art.

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

Abstract art is compared to figurative art.  Franz Kline – C & O.  Helen Frankenthaler – Mountains and Sea.  Wilem de Kooning – Morning: The Springs.  Jasper Johns – Flag.  Andy Warhol – The Texan: Portrait of Robert Rauschenberg.  Roy Lichtenstein – Girl with Hair Ribbon.  Abstract Expressionism joined attitudes in American art and European avant-garde art.  Avant-garde – each generation, believed it was their duty to go further than the one before.

Uncertainty: Modernity and Art

The program stretches into contemporary art to ask: What can we still believe in?  Modern art is contemporary society’s version of Delphic Oracles.  Art has its own memory of itself, its own psychic strata.  Modern art underlying message is uncertainty.  Modern art is a complete break from art of the past that was inspirational, idealized.  Modern Art keeps responding to modern life.   Modern art has become an icon for moral goodness.  Abstract art asks questions, and it provides no answers.  Paul Klee is one of the original creators of the abstract look.  Pop art represents a change in thinking from the 50s to the 60s.  Pop art suggests that things and people are thrown away because things keep changing.  Art is about impulse, whim and casualness.  What is the message of art today? Answers lie within, not without.

The videos related to the chapters reading.  The videos were interesting to watch and see the detailed paintings and the people associated with these cultures and religions.

Video Review

I chose the Dance at the Moulin de la Galette because it was about Paris and Dada movement was interesting reading in the book.

Dance at the Moulin de la Galette – most joyful painting of Paris, it transport the viewer back to Paris.  It sold at an auction for a record price.   It depicts a sunny Sunday afternoon at a dance hall and windmills.   It represented two worlds: bohemian and fashionable men and lower class women.  People socialized in classless harmony.  Other artist Federico Zandomeneghi, Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso, and Van Gogh painted the dance hall differently depict sinister, somber and dark versions.  Rod Stewart’s used the painting on the cover of his 1976 album cover.

Dada and Surrealism – Dada movement was born as a reaction to WWI.  Most of the paintings in the video were in the text book.  Hannah Hoch used art to attach the society she detests and attacks the political figures of the Weimar regime.  Joan Miro paints only the abstract structures of its composition.  Salvador Dali was a surrealist painter, and probed the darkest regions of the human subconscious. 

The videos related to the chapters and discussed the Dada and Surrealism movements.  The videos were interesting to watch and see the detailed sculptures and the people associated with these cultures and religions.

Mask Making

The first mask I chose is one my grandfather got while on vacation and he had it on displayed in his home.  The mask is made of leather; there is no artist or title of the work though it appears to be handmade.  The principles and elements are: texture, forms, emphasis.  It reminds me of a native girl.  The artist may have been creating a mask out of leather to show the hard life this women had.  The second mask is from Bali, Indonesia called Patih Keras, made by Ida Ketut Berati, master carver.  It is 8 inches, painted wood, hair, mother –of-pearl, jewelry. It is well carved and finished with many coats of paint with great attention to detail. It’s can rival the Noh masks in quality.  The last mask is called Huaco mask from Latacunga, Ecuador.  It’s 9 inches and made from paper mache.  Huaco is the second most important character in La Fiesta de la Mama Negro, a popular annual celebration in the Ecuador.  They have a non-commercial, folk-art look. 

The mask I created using the forms element for the three-dimensional shape, color with the different value and intensity, and texture smooth and rough.  I wasn’t sure what to create but after I started it just came together, I wanted it to be colorful so I used acrylic paints.

 http://www.masksoftheworld.com/Bali/Bali%20Java%20Mask%20Group.htm

http://www.masksoftheworld.com/SoAmerica/Ecuadorian%20Huaco%20mask.htm

Week Eight - Video Blog

I choose the two African videos because the project in this chapter is about masks and the other two were just randomly chosen.

African Art: Legacy of Oppression

Belgium’s Tervuren Museum contains the world’s largest collection of Central African Art, containing about 250,000 pieces.  The shocking expressions and body positions leads to abstract art.  Interesting masks were displayed, one half white for healthy and the other half black for sickness.  Masks were created to frighten enemies.  Also talked about the fact they had to bring back the right hand of victim for every bullet fired. 

African Art – Its Cultural meaning

The video showed expressing in dress, hair style, and forms of ornamentation, rituals and performance art.  Wood and straw were used to make sculptures.  Also included in the video it shows the symbolism, aesthetics and functionality of African art.  Explored African religious beliefs explored through rituals, a spiritual form of performance art and Funerary statuary.  African art includes bronze casting of Nigeria date from the 15^th century.  Masks are highly stylized and embellished.  Costumes are designed to be used by fire light. 

Buddhism

Buddhism began in India and spread to other lands.  Bodh Gaya is like Jerusalem.  Bodhi tree was used to mediate.  Tanha, is the gateway to the temple.  Buddhism split into 2 groups:  hinayana and mahanyana.   The Great Stupa has an umbrella on the top.  Buddha is the man who refused to be a god.  The walkway wines around the temple.  The three levels of the umbrella symbolize the three levels of heaven.  Chuang Yen Monastery is a complex of building dedicated to Buddhism.  Stress kindness to all. 

Hinduism

Hinduism is exotic and erotic.  Varanasi is the holiest city in India and the River Ganges is the symbol of life, death and rebirth.  Hindus can worship anywhere.    Cremation in Varanasi on the Ganges is assurance of direct access to heaven.  Shines in Mamallapuram are lavishly decorated and carved from single boulders.  You can’t take it with you, give up worldly items.   Believes we will all arrive at the same place.  Hindus’ cannot touch a dead body the outcast must. 
The videos about African art relate to chapter 18 and chapter 19 relates to Buddhism and Hinduism.

The videos were interesting to watch and see the detailed sculptures and the people associated with these cultures and religions.

Art gallery Visit 2

The title of the exhibit is Video Sphere.  The theme of the exhibition is cinematic medium, visual media, audio and video. 

The gallery lighting used was bright florescent.  The color used on the walls was mostly white with black crown and base molding.  The materials used in the interior architecture of the space were marble and tile.  The movement of the viewer through the gallery space was free and random.

The artworks were randomly organized.  The artworks were similar because they were either wall mounted or statues.  The artworks were different in size, style, framing and material.  The artworks were framed all different styles by artists.  The artworks were identified and labeled with the name and artist with a brief description of the work.  The works were each given its own space.

Isaac Julien, British, born 1960 is known for his extravagant and breathtaking filmic installations.  Western Union: Small Boats, 2007 is the final installment in a series of three films that focus on cross-cultural and continental journeys. 

Western Union: Small Boats, 2007, three screen projections of the elements of forms and proportion are used to explore the beautiful cinematic installations related to identity, history, race, memory and the passage of time.  This work is a reminder of the struggles of immigrants.

While visiting the art gallery and viewing the exhibition: With 3 different screens going at once to evoke the feeling of being in the same place as the character makes the story told not by words but through visuals and sounds of music to really get the feeling of the scene.  Everything boils down to the metaphor; all different characters come to same conclusion.

Sarah Morris, American, born 1967 her works often based on different cities, are derivative of Morris’s close inspection of architectural details and her desire to explore the psychology of a place.  Her most recent stand-alone film, Points on a Line, 2010, focuses on two twentieth-century modernist architectural icons, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House and Philip Johnson’s Glass House. 

Points on a Line, 2010

Sarah captured “the intellectual and design resonance” between the structures.  The film shows the two building structures and she wants to change the way people think about a house, a form and a context. In the film the elements displayed are shape, forms, space, and balance.  The artist is trying to say that even structures built in different areas are alike. 

Bruce Nauman, American, born 1941his work Green Horses 1988, an empty leather chair sits between two video monitors showing him riding a horse in the distance.  The chair allows you to feel the movement of being on the horse.  While the film is inverted the viewer feels that the horse is riding the man. 

Exploring Line drawing hands

Using my hands as the subject for the project was interesting and easier than I thought it was going to be but it was also harder using my non-dominant hand than I had expected.  I selected the pencil for my media for drawing my hands, since pencil is easier to erase than charcoal.  With my non-dominate hand it was harder to control the pencil I had to erase more than with my dominate hand.  The one drawn with the dominate hand was done better than the one drawn with my non-dominate hand.  I think I did a good job considering this is my first shot at drawing other than what we’ve already done in this class.  I would consider using my non-dominate hand possible for part of another artwork in the future.

Video Reviews - Week Seven

I choose Michelangelo because my grandfather told me about his vacation when he went to the Sistine Chapel.  I choose Leonardo da Vinci because he painted the Mona Lisa.  The last two I just choose for no reason.

The Drawings of Michelangelo: The British Museum – 90 drawing of Michelangelo.  Michelangelo the creator, drawings are sensual and bring us closer to the master.  Born in Florence, became a prentice at 12.  Analysis the Pieta, the colossal David, the Sistine Chapel ceiling, The Last Judgment, the Medici tomb, and St Peter’s Basilica.  He used both sides of his paper and took his papers with him.  The Pieta is the only signed sculpture.  Michelangelo died before the dome was built for the painting of the Sistine Chapel ceiling.  Drew little sketches then had to make it bigger (4 times bigger) to put it on the ceiling.  It’s showed the drawing and then the sculpture, it was pretty amazing to see how much alike they are.  

Leonardo da Vinci: The Mind of the Renaissance - Leonardo da Vinci (1452) from birth to his final years in Cloux his life and works.  He was a painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, and student of anatomy, physiology, botany, architecture, hydrodynamics, aeronautics, and other disciplines; he was the quintessential “Renaissance man”.  He was left handed.  The head from one the eyes from another and the ears from a third.  He caricatures the faces of the men involved in the slander against him.  He studies machine to create better machines.  Leonardo goes to the court of Milan as a musician.  When he arrives he presents himself as a military engineer armed with drawings of weapons and machinery.  Leonardo believes proportion and balance must flow from the artist’s knowledge of his subjects.  Beauty and harmony are of the divine nature.  In 1503 he returns to Florence with the Mona Lisa.  In 1516 he becomes the first painter, engineer and architect to the King.

Albrecht Durer: Image of a Master - The greatest artist of the northern Renaissance Albrecht Durer introduced the Italian Renaissance forms and ideas to Germany that was dominated by the Gothic tradition.  He was a painter, printmaker. He mother had 18 children and buried 15 of them.   Durer is considered the first true landscape artist.  Durer swayed from traditional woodcuts to the engraving on copper.  He last painting of 4 of the apostles.

Velazquez - Velazquez was a court painter to his friend King Phillip IV of Spain.  He was influenced by the Italian masters.  He was born in 1599 and died in 1660.  Captures the timeless moments in his paintings: light, air, moments those that disappear.  Some of his works are: Sybil, Prince Baltazar Carlos, Las Meninas, Phillip IV and Las Hilanderas.  He painted slowly and one at a time. 

All of the videos related to the chapters we read, some of the information was the same. 

I like all the videos somehow watching and seeing the sketches and the finish painting or sculpture pulls it all together.

Peer Blog Review

One above

http://clare-castelletti.blogspot.com/

http://s1220.photobucket.com/albums/dd444/clarecast/?action=view&current=1193de21.pbw

http://clare-castelletti.blogspot.com/2011/06/art-gallery.html

Elements and Principles – yes I agreed with the elements and principle Clare picked with the images.

Art Gallery – we both used Still Life #20 for our projects.  We both thought it was interesting artwork. 

 Yes, Wayne Thiebaud, Yo-Yos image was interesting at first I thought they were poker chips.  Would like to know what other objects he painted.

And One below

http://aed200post1.blogspot.com/

http://s1105.photobucket.com/albums/h355/donnjame/AED%20Project%201/?albumview=slideshow

http://s1105.photobucket.com/albums/h355/donnjame/Art%20Gallery%201/

Elements and Principles – yes I agreed with the elements and principle James used with the images.  The picture his used for Pattern he could have used for Line also.   Great picture of the long road for space I could feel myself going down the road.

Art Gallery – there were not images that were the same however we both used painting by Thomas Cole.  No there were not any images that I would want to know more about. 

Even before this assignment I had review some of the blog, to see how much they were like mine or how different they were from mine.  Yes this was valuable to be able to see how my peers set up their blog and what they posted.

Video Reviews

More Human than Human

            Visual Legacy – Epic story how humans made art and art made us human.  Pictures of the human body dominate the world.  Humans don’t resemble the images that they create.  August 7, 1908 found status of female Venus of Willendorf.  Human tendency is to make unrealistic human figures.  Seagull research – chicks tap mother s beak cause of red strip because stimulated.  Weather influence – The Nile River – Egyptian artist created proportional and emphasize all body parts equally. Egyptians created images of the body in a consistent way for 3000 years using grid lines to be consistence.  Culture is King.  Stefano Mariottini had discover ancient Greece status that are anatomically accurate and in perfect proportion.  If you look good you were good.   Kritios Boy carved from marble mastered realistic statues by a Greek artist.  Some argue that humans have a primeval tendency to exaggerate.  In 450 BC, Polyclitus made an artistic breakthrough in sculpture; he divided the body into quadrants and moved the parts to create a sense of movement.  The Riace bronze sculptures are greatest statues ever made. Michelangelo made his sculptures more human than human.  Today the art of caricature is fueled by the human desire to exaggerate what is important to a culture. 

I choose the following videos because after reading the chapters I wanted to learn more about the topics.

A World Inscribed: The Illuminated Manuscript

Writers write so that the future may learn.  Work of an angel not a man.  Monks were fighting devil with pen and ink to preserve knowledge.  Spread of knowledge was slowed because each book was copied by hand in adverse conditions.  Scribes wrote their thoughts in the margins of books.  All sorts of mayhem in the margins “How do you get a fox, a lamb, some greens across the river in a boat...  The printing press had replace scribes, ending an era.   

Cairo Museum

The Egyptian Museum in Cairo houses relics and artifacts of thirty dynasties of pharaohs.  Rare beauty, mystery and iconic power draw visitors from all over the world.  The basement is full of artifacts that arrived over 100 years ago.  One artifact is a foot fitted with an artificial toe.  The Cairo Museum is preparing for its centennial celebration.  The statue of Kai, a high priest of Khufu is the most amazing artifact in Egypt.  In 1925 an expedition from Boston discovered the tomb of Khufu’s mother.

The Measure of All Things: Greek Art and the Human Figure

Acropolis is a visual reminder of the politics, philosophy, art, and architecture of ancient Greece.  Artists portrayed humans in a realistic way and obsessed with the perfection of the body.  Sculptures revolutionized realism by using a 3D effect, depicting movement and using bright colors.  Images on Greek pottery depicted everyday life as well as the gods.  Sculpture was the heart of revolution in sixth century Greece, giving a new sense of humanism with the realistic and idealistic depiction of the human body as seen in the Kritios Boy.  Olympic Games the athletes participated in the nude.  The Classical Period, Greek artists produced idealized forms and portraits sculpture of individuals like Socrates. 

The videos related to the reading, chapter 15 talks about illuminated and more human representation in sculptures and this is what the videos were about. 

The videos expanded on the reading and also had a lot of sculpture to show the detail put into the sculpture.  Very interesting mod.

Art Making/Material Exploration

Installation art is when the artist modifies a space in some way and then asks us to enter, explore and experience it.  The art defines the space or sculptures in the round.
Materials used for installation art is some space or room, table or floor or ceiling, any and all objects the artist chooses. 
Installation art is created by the artist to make people think and get involved.  Gives you something to look at and talk about. 
The artist and installation I found most interesting was Yayoi Kusama, Fireflies on the Water, 2002.
After researching online I was drawn to the installations using paper. Nature’s Maze, 2005,              90 x 55 x 3 cm.    http://www.petercallesen.com/index/Largepapercutinstallations.htm
 
  Paper can do more than receive our thoughts, it can be inspirational, beautiful, tell stories.
The materials used were paper, scissors, table, creativity.
The installation needs to be located on a flat surface like the kitchen table.

 
Artist: William Dobson
Title: Paper Art Puzzles
Media: Paper
Date: July 3, 2011
Description:  3 different puzzles from the same size of paper but different colors.
Formal analysis:  Elements included in the art work were: Forms, space.  The principles of design included were: Balance, repetition.
It was difficult to come up with an idea; I changed my mind on what I was going to do, after thinking about how to do it.  Then when I was at the computer I saw the paper and research online and found the Nature’s Maze.

Week Five - Additional Video Reflection

Architecture: The Science of Design

1.       Modern skyscrapers – concrete steel when no space we build up.  Wind sways buildings

2.      Wind Tunnel testing – microclimatic wind research
3.      Smart apartments – computers programmed to accommodate user’s needs.  Heat water for shower, start coffee pot, open blinds.
4.      Computerized management – voice controlled computer manages electrical systems
5.      Concrete used in buildings – Greek and Roman ruins are still standing were made from concrete. (sand, pebbles or broken stone combine with cement)
6.      Reinforced and Pre-stressed concrete – rebar – bars of metal placed in concrete.
 

Last Call for Planet Earth: Sustainable Development and Architecture

1. Sustainability Revolution – People use resources indiscriminately.  Today architecture is global.

2. Architectural Design and Energy Management - sustainability agenda is important for business.
3. Architectural Designs for Energy Efficiency - energy-saving designs.
4. Architecture and Environmental Awareness - architectural design that incorporates integrated systems of natural light, fresh air, gardens, and beauty.
5. Architecture and Resources Management - geography, climate, and local resources, particularly renewable materials such as wood.
6. Passive Solar Energy - greenhouse effect exemplifies passive solar energy.
7. New Concept of Cities - re-conceptualize cities.
8. Architectural Design in Former Granite Quarry - The building refocuses the eye to see beauty where there was once ugliness.
9. China's Ecological Architecture - design features positively impact ecology and economy.
10. Tools for Green Analysis - "Green-washing"
11. Green Roof Technology - The living roof provides heat in the winter and coolness in the summer.
12. Passive House Concept - loses the minimum amount of heat, is made of wood and glass, is insulated with straw, and no chemical additive to structural material.
13. Architecture of Integrated Systems - the practice involved in design and research that yields innovative, urban environments.
14. Sustainable Architecture Design in Office Complex - holistic design that takes more than aesthetics into account.
15. Sustainable Buildings in Antwerp - a complex of sustainable buildings.
16. Architect Kengo Kuma - works with wood lattice and bamboo as an architectural expression depiction of the changing elements of nature. Wood and bamboo are also sustainable materials.
17. Human Habitat and Sustainability - the re-establishment of human habitat is part of the solution to over-population and rapid growth of cities.
18. Future of Architecture - the importance of air, water, and earth to sustainable architecture.

Chapter 13 was about Architecture which the video discussed different designs of architecture.

The Architecture: The Science of Design Classical Architecture was informative with smart apartments and computerized management for electrical systems.  The Last Call for Planet Earth: Sustainable Development and Architecture was harder to get anything out of because it was in another language and you were hearing them speak but reading the words.

I choose the films to watch by the titles.  The names sounded interesting so I choose those to watch.

Week Five Video reflections

Through the Eyes of the Sculptor
                Emmanuel Fillion – French sculptor – carver then sculptor.  12 degrees in limestone quarries at all times.  Stone are wet and heavy when removed from quarry.  Breathe new life into the sculptures.  Draws sculpture then creates in clay then makes a mold, makes plaster cast of sculpture.  Finds perfect marble block in Carrara.  Marble is product of limestone that’s baked, squeezed and baked together. Artigiano – crafts maker files to make smooth, work called Genesis.

Glass and Ceramics

                Glass is everywhere.  Glass is made from sand.  60 – 75 % sand & Fluxes- soda, shells are added to silica mixture is heated into liquid.  Stained glass – modulate light by using different glass colors and textures, made by glazier.  Ceramics are fire, made with clay base.   Slip is poured into molds.  Removed from mold and fired the glazed.  Ceramic prostheses are stable and well tolerated in the body.  Ceramic vehicle engines are starting to be made.  Laminated glass used in Architecture.  Glass is slowly taking the place of stone as a building material.

Installation Art

                Contemporary art takes over the space, sculpture in the round.  3-dimensional art.  Richard Wilson – “She came in through the Bathroom window”.  Invisible art – computer generated music played over and over.  Must interact with installation art.  Ordinary objects used in installation art.  Happening – audience interacts with act.  Video installation – dark room.  Installing large installation could take months.  The canoes at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery are installation art.  It has to be assembled on site.  Expect the un-expected.

The videos related to the reading because chapter 11 was about sculptures and installations.  Sculptures are made from different materials and different types: modeling, casting, and carving.  They can use materials like marble, glass and ceramics.

The videos were very interesting and informative on the subjects.  I enjoyed Through the Eyes of a Sculpture the most.  Through the Eyes of a Sculpture follows Emmanuel through the whole process for one piece of art, showing all the steps and work required to get to the finish piece.  Glass and Ceramics showed the process of making both materials that can be used to create crafts and art.  Installation Art was interesting with the many different kinds of art.  With contemporary art almost anything is considered art these days.

Art Gallery

Artist – Alexander Brennen, Lewiston Porter High School
Title: From Above
Media: Oil on Wood
This artwork impressed me because it was done by a high school student and was in the Albright Knox Art Gallery.

Artist: Andre Derain – French, 1880-1954

Title: The Trees
Media: Oil on Canvas
Scale: 23 3/8 x 28 ½
This artwork I was connected with because I am a hunter and spend a lot of time in the woods with all kinds of trees around.

Artist: Georges Seurat - French, 1859-1891
Title: Study for Le Chahut, 1889
Media: Oil on Canvas
Scale: 21 7/8 x 18 3/8
This artwork impressed me because it was done back in 1889 and it was about some show on stage.

Artist: Henri Cartier-Bresson  French, 1908-2004

Title: Alexander Calder, Sache, 1971
Media: Gelatin silver print
Scale: unframed 14 x 9 3/8 (35.56 x 23.81 cm.)
This artwork I would like to know more about to see who was Alexander Calder.

Artist: Joan Miro     Spanish, 1893-1983
Title: Head in the Night, 1968
Media: Bronze, edition ½
Scale: 26 ½ x 13 5/8 x 12 ¼
This artwork I connected with because I like to weld and this reminded me of welding.

Artist: John F. Kensett      American, 1816-1872
Title: Coast Scene, ca. 1860-70
Media: Oil on canvas
Scale: 22 ¼ x 34 ¼
This artwork impressed me because it was painted in 1860-70 and the water seems endless.

Artist: Milton Rogovin     American, 1909-2011
Title: Untitled (Sisal worker, Yucatan)
Media: Gelatin silver print
This artwork interested me and I would like to know what this worker is doing or making.

Artist: Roland Flexner    French, 1944
Title: Untitled (Ink Bubble Drawings)
Media: Ink on paper
This artwork is interesting and I am curious about the process Roland used to create his Ink Bubble drawing.

Artist: Tom Wesselmann     American, 1931-2004
Title: Still Life #20, 1962
Media: Mixed media
Scale: 41 x 48 x 5 ½
This artwork I made a connection with because it a still life of normal things in a kitchen.