Art Gallery Visit

I went  to the art gallery on Saturday afternoon.  I was a very nice experience.  I went around for a while and  tried to understand the art from what I learned in class so far.  I tried to find out how the artist used the different elements and the principle of design in their art work.  Here are the pieces of art that I felt were most appropriate for this assignment.

Which artworks make an impact or impression on me?

Pablo Picasso's Harlequin was one of the artworks that made an impact on me.  The boldness of the colors and shapes really caught my attention. In this artwork I can see many different elements and principles that the artist used such as, lines, color, shapes, and balance.  When I look at this i wonder what the artist was trying to express, maybe a face or a house. I'm not should but I do know that it is bold.  

The artist, Jackson Pollack, made a painting that would get everyone's attention who walked by it.  The painting made an impact on me because of how wild and crazy it is.  The way the artist throw the paint all over the canvas, in what appears to be a violent way, really caught mu attention.  I also noticed how the artist used black paint and then used bright colors that really stood out.  I really enjoyed looking at the artwork.  

Which artworks do I feel a connection with?

When I seen this I immediately had a connection with it because it was one of the artworks that I read in the book.  I was able to understand what the artist was doing because I had previous knowledge about the artist and the art work.  Out of all the artwork that I seen at the Gallery this one stood out to me.  I was excited when I seen it because I felt like I know what this one was all about compared to the others.  

Gustave Courbet's, La Source de la Loue, is a painting that I feel I connected with.  A lot of the painting in the Gallery were very abstract and I wasn't sure what I was looking at most of the time.  When I saw this one I was immediately connected to it because I know what it was.  The artist made this artwork very realistic, it almost makes you want to jump in the painting and see what deep in the shadows of the cave.  There is something mysterious about this painting that makes you want to know more.  

Which artworks would I like to know more about?

When I first saw this artwork I didn't notice the words underneath the black sand.  Once I started attempting to read it I wanted to know more about what the writing was.  At the top it is easy to read the words but as you get further into the writing the black sand is so thick it is impossible to see what is written.  The top line reads, "The rage of the disesteemed", I have no idea what it means but I'm sure if I did the artwork would make more since.  This is a powerful way to get a message across and to also keep a secret.  

  When I see this painting all I can think is, WHAT IS GOING ON?.  There is so much to see in this artwork that I don't even know where to begin.  The artist, Arshile Gorky, wanted to express something in this painting but I just don't know what.  The only thing that give me a guide is the title, which is, The Liver is in the Cock's Comb.  This is not that big of a help...what does that mean?  I am able to appreciate the elements and principle of design that were used.   The artist used just about everyone in this artwork.  

Logo Design

      Creating this project was pretty fun.  When I first read the instructions I was a little nerves that I wasn't going to be able to create a nice logo.  I am pretty good at drawing but I'm not that creative.  So this created a problem. I looked around my apartment to see different things that I thought represented me.  I didn't really have any luck.  There are so many possibilities that I could have drawn but would it have really represented me? 

      I was stuck for a long time thinking of what I could draw that represented me.  The first page I draw things that I like, the elephant(elephants are my favorite animal), the headphones, and the letters of the alphabet(I thought it would be cool to use the last letters of the alphabet). I was pleased with the things I drew but I couldn't think of a logo that would go well with them.  On the next paper I scratched all my ideas from the first paper and started over.  I Thought of the thing I love most in the world and it was my family.  Without family nothing would matter to me.  At the end of the day if you have love from your family, you have all you need in life.  So that's why I named it EnuF, because love is enough.  I created a family of three in the shape of a heart to so how the are all connected with one another.  If the hands let go then the heart would be broken.  I tried to show the importance of unity.  I colored the heart red because I thought it was the most appropriate color to represent love. 

      The most important discovery I made while doing this project was that if you have passion for something you can make something that represents it even if your not that creative.  I feel that this logo represents me very well.  

     The most important thing I learned was the steps it took in order to create a successful logo.  I learned how important the rough draft phase is.  If I hadn't watched to video or look at the PowerPoint I would have been very stuck.  

Exploring Value and The Subtractive Color Theory

I thought creating the value scale and color wheel was interesting.  Making the value scale was somewhat difficult because it was hard to make it get lighter.  I enjoyed making the color wheel because it gave me a better understanding of why color blending works the way it does.  I haven't work a lot with paints so it was fun to do something different for once.The most important thing I discovered was that you are never to old to enjoy working with paint.  I don't have a lot of time during the day to do things like this so it was fun to get away from textbook.  I also learned that it is very important for artist to understand colors and the value scale in order for their work to be successful.  I thought both of the videos were very helpful.  I was able to understand what it was I had to do in order for my color wheel and value scale to come out successfully.

Project 1

I really enjoyed doing this project.  I thought I was going to have a difficult time but it was actual very fun.  I think this is a great way to understand elements and principles of design.  I used my son in a lot of the pictures to help me express the element or principle I needed to.  He was a really good sport about it.  We simple went out for a walk and along the way we stopped and took pictures.  The rest are done in my apartment and some were old pictures I found one my computer.  I hope you enjoy my pictures as much as I enjoyed making them.


http://s1240.photobucket.com/albums/gg498/douglab01/?albumview=slideshow

Module 3

1.  Describe Color and it's effects on emotions.

Humans respond very strongly to color.  The reasons being, according to the text, colors affect a wide range of psychological and physiological responses.  Colors are a natural part of nature.  When we see a sunset of different tints and shades of oranges, yellows and reds, we are relaxed.  When we see these colors in paintings, we are reminded of our feeling of relaxation we felt when we seen the sunset.  Some colors natural simulate a part of our brain that correlates with an emotion.   We often see red in restaurants, it is said that this color increases our appetites.  Artist can play with intensities to express the emotion the painting.  A painting can be dull and soft to express calmness. 

2.  What is a theoretical aspect of color that most intrigues/fascinates you?

A theoretical aspect of color that most fascinates me is that fact that you can make so many different colors with just one hue.  Take the color red, there are millions of different values.  Artists are able to express the feeling of the art work they need to through color.  Also, how an artist can take just one color and paint the entire painting in different values and intensities of that color.  

3.  In the Color video, what made the biggest impact on you in regards to color and it's effects on emotions?

The Color video taught me many things about colors and it’s effect on emotion.  The part that stuck with me is how the women painting Venice was able to capture, with color, the feeling is felt when she was there.  She painted layer after layer of different colors to express the mood of Venice. 

4.  In the Feelings video, what made the biggest impact on you in regards to color and it's effects on emotions?

For century’s artist have been using paintings as a way to express their views of the world.  The biggest impact I got from watching this video was seeing how artist use colors as a way to get people to see the world differently.  Some artists were not afraid to test the boundaries and they used the artistic abilities to get the world to understand.  By doing this, they created powerful pieces of art using powerful colors to express the many emotions that people were afraid to embraces.  

Module 2... Aesthetics

1. Both the videos contributed a great amount of information I learned about aesthetics and art. From the video, Aesthetics: Philosophy of the Arts, I believe the key concept was about the history on aesthetics.  It focused on the meaning of aesthetics and how each philosopher contributed their theory on it.  This video was helpful because it helped me to get an understanding of where aesthetics came from.  It went back in history and showed us how it came about right from the beginning.  In the video, CARTA: Neurobiology Neurology and Art and Aesthetics, I seen that they took a more scientific approach.  The main idea of this video was to show how we as human are biologically programmed to understand and love art.

2. This question was asked in our previous discussion work.  I choose Plato's theory on aesthetics and I still find his to be the most important.  I think all of the philosophers had great theories and if you put them all together you can have a wonderful idea of what aesthetics really means.  Plato was form the 4th Century and his theory was, "There is a beauty by which all things are beautiful".  To me this theory itself is beautiful.  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, one may not find something beautiful but to someone else it may be.  Anything can be seen as beauty if its looked at in the right way or if it has some sort of emotion attachment to it.

3.   When I first started watching the video CARTA: Neurobiology Neurology and Art and Aesthetics, I thought that there was no way I was going to get anything out of this video. I couldn't understand a thing Changeux was saying.  His english a very broken and I found myself getting lost a lot of the time.  When Ramachandran did his presentation I was able to understand a lot more.  I believe that their scientific approach on aesthetics and art is very important.  It is important to understand why we see art the way we do and the reason why our brains work the way they do when it comes to art.  I didn't get much out of Changeux except that our brains have developed over time and through the ages we have viewed art differently.  I found it very interesting when Ramachandran said, "Why would some works of art have such a powerful effect on the human mind".  The answer in a nutshell comes down to science.  

4.  The videos related to the reading in the text because because it showed us in more detail how aesthetics and art are two different things.  From what I noticed the book has a very short section on aesthetics.  It was very useful to watch the video and get a more in depth idea of what aesthetics mean.

5.  I enjoyed both films.  Each one touched on a different aspect of aesthetics that I think is very important. You need to understand the history of aesthetics and the scientific view of aesthetics in order to understand aesthetics fully.    

First blog!

1.  I already had an existing g-mail account, so the first part of step one was a piece of cake.  Creating a blog, not so much.  I was confused a lot of the time.  I don't know if it was just me but the directions seemed a bit different from what I had to do.  I found my self getting lost a lot but this is the first time making a blog so hopeful I will get use to it.  

2.  I expect to get a better understanding and appreciation of art out of this class.  I have taken art history a few semesters ago and I really enjoyed it.  I'm looking forward to learning much more thing that art has to offer.  

3.  I feel good about taking an online course.  This will be my third online course I have taken.  Online classes a great for me because I have such a busy personal life that it nice to be able to do the work when the time is good for me.