Hand Drawing

I thought it was a good idea to use our hands as subject matter for drawing since, in my opinion, this exercise was meant to show how different art may be when you try doing it with your non-dominant hand.  I'm glad it was simple, like a hand, and not something more intricate.

I picked pencil because I had a pack sitting next to me.  Plus, I have experience using pencils, so I though that might be my best bet, especially if I'm attempting a new technique.

It was very difficult to control the pencil with my left hand.  It was very shaky.  I felt embarrassed at first but the drawing gradually evolved.  It was nowhere near as good as the drawing I did with my right hand, but in the end, I felt okay with my finished product.  Ultimately, I felt proud of myself for doing better than I thought.


I think this exercise was a success, however, I'm no professional artist!  Although my right handed drawing turned out well, my left-handed drawing was pretty pathetic, so I don't think I will be posting this one on the refrigerator anytime soon.  Overall, this was a successful study of our hands.

Unless I'm forced to, I don't plan on using my non-dominant hand for anything except playing the guitar.  I won't be painting any masterpieces with my left hand in the future!

Video Reviews - Week 9

I chose to watch El Greco: Rediscovering a Master because I was familiar with the artist’s name and wanted to learn more about him.  I mentioned earlier that one of his paintings, View of Toledo, is my favorite ever.  I found out that his real name is Domenikos Theotokopoulos and is one of Spain’s greatest painters. I was most interested in how his training and work in Medieval, Byzantine, and Renaissance styles come together in works such as “The Triumph of the Holy League.” I think it is fascinating how so many artists are largely unappreciated until long after their deaths; many people thought El Greco was extravagant and even “insane.” The film directly related to the Romantic Movement and modernism as introduced in the textbook, and also included information on other artists in the book who are connected to El Greco, such as Picasso.

I was attracted to La Primavera because I know it means "spring" in Spanish and I desperately want spring to come!  I learned that there are many different connotations for this painting - some of which are very controversial.  Some of the themes that are visible throughout the piece are sex and the concepts of humanism and neo-Platonism that we read about in the book.  I was surprised to hear that rape, as well as a completely converse theme of flowers, were common themes in these kinds of paintings and ultimately showed that adversity breeds a happy marriage.

I watched The Night Watch because one of my favorite bands has a song with the same title.  I am not very familiar with the Dutch and their legacy - now I am.  This painting is amazing - it is so huge.  I was blown away by its size.  One of the most blatant things about this painting was Rembrandt's use of chiaroscuro - the light was definitely an important part of this piece.  Furthermore, I found it amazing that it survived despite being attacked with blades and even acid.  I also learned about how it was "trimmed" to fit through a door - which is considered a bigger act of vandalism than either of the previous two acts I talked about.

I chose to watch Leonardo da Vinci: The Mind of the Renaissance because I honestly just wanted to know more about him. I thought it was extremely interesting that Da Vinci was able to spontaneously write from right to left in a mirrored style - I can't even fathom doing that.  Before I decided on Public Communications, I considered being a morgue technician (I know, very odd differences in career choices), so I thought it was really interesting that Da Vinci performed secret autopsies.  I'm glad I decided on this video since now I feel like I have a connection with Da Vinci!

Video Review - Week 8

The three videos I chose were:

Cataclysm: The Black Death Visits Tuscany, A World Inscribed: The Illuminated Manuscript, and The Measure of All Things: Greek Art and the Human Figure.

 

I chose the Cataclysm video because I am very interested in the black death and how disease could have wiped out such a huge portion of a country.  I chose the Illuminated Manuscript because I remembered reading about it in the chapter and I wanted to know more about it.  I chose the Greek Art video because I think their portrayal of the human body is beautiful and I admire their respect for it.

In More Human than Human, I liked how they acknowledged that the most popular/celebrated works of art depicting the human body are actually quite impossible to achieve.  I also enjoyed learning more about the venus figurines.  Whenever I heard the word "venus," I would think of a beautiful, godly figure... The Venus of Willendorf figure from the chapter proved that wrong!

 

For some reason, I am really interested in the black death, so I picked Cataclysm: The Black Death Visits Tuscany.  The black death was a horrible time for the Renaissance so it was interesting to see that artists were focusing on the divine and the otherworldly rather than the horrors that were occurring on Earth.  I also learned more about the plague itself and how it was transferred and ultimately how it took control so quickly.

I remembered reading about The Illuminated Manuscript in Chapter 15, so enjoyed learning more about it in the video.  It was amazing to hear how many people were illiterate - only church-related individuals like monks could read!  I also learned how books were made and what an arduous process it must have been - back then, books were just as much works of art as anything else!

 

Finally, I watched The Greek Art Video.  I actually thought this video related a lot to the More Human than Human Video.  It was interesting to learn that the Greeks focused as much on the unobtainable/perfect human form as much as we do today.  Comparing something "ideal" like the Venus of Willendorf to a beautiful Greek figure is somewhat comical, but the differing views on what is ideal is very interesting to me.

As per usual, the videos take the readings a step further and offer a more in-depth look at certain things that the book did not elaborate on.  I definitely noticed similar topics like ideal forms, gothic styles of architecture, and so on.

I enjoy the films.  It is nice to sit back and watch a video on topics you just sat down and read about in the books.  It is a different way to gain knowledge about these topics and I enjoy learning about things that I find interesting (like the black plague) rather than just what is assigned to me.

 

 

Video Review - Architecture

In Prarie Style, I learned about “organic architecture,” which is the process of using elements of the environment in the architecture to make them look like they blended in or belonged.  This reinforced many of the things I learned from traveling to Fallingwater – in falling water, stones from the environment were built into the house, which itself, was built over a waterfall.  Prarie Style, used many floating planes and different level of roofing to blend in with its surroundings.

In Architecture: Science and Design, I learned that architects sometimes use trees as strategic methods to offset the challenges of an unfriendly environment.  In this case, they are used as wind blockers for tall skyscrapers.  I also learned that, although concrete is brittle, sometimes it is reinforced with bars of iron – I now know what re-bar is.

In Classical Architecture, I learned that although there have been astounding technological advances in architecture, some elements of classical architecture are still used today.  Perhaps the most fascinating is that solar heating was actually an old technique is still utilized today – this even relates to “green architecture” since if we use the sun for energy, we are making use of an unlimited energy source.

In Last Call for Planet Earth, I learned that some of the most cutting edge green technologies are coming from China.  For example, building narrow apartments can allow for cross-ventilation between apartments, cutting way down on energy consumption.  What is interesting is that these aren’t complicated concepts – architects believe that using simple techniques, we can cut energy consumption easily by 20 or 30 percent.

As usual, the videos offer a more “in-depth” look at the subjects covered in the text.  They all discuss various aspects of architecture, including cutting edge technologies and extremely influential artists like Frank Lloyd Wright.

I enjoyed watching Last Call for Planet Earth because I, like most of the world, am interested in being more “green.”  I also enjoyed watching Prarie Style because I love Frank Lloyd Wright’s ideas and style.  My overall opinion of the videos is that they offer other perspectives on architecture that our book doesn’t cover, and therefore, are good learning tools.

As I stated earlier, I picked Last Call for Planet Earth because I am interested in “green architecture.”  There is a television show called “World’s Greenest Homes” on Planet Green that travels around the world to tour homes that are extremely green.  It is my hope to eventually build a house like this someday – therefore, I was hoping Last Call could provide me some extra ideas from the inspiration I already took from “World’s Greenest Homes” – it did!

Installation Art

Step 3:

Installation art is art that has been created in a place by an artist or as specified by the artist.  The work may be dependent on the site or not and does not necessarily have to be there permanently.  Sometimes, it is controversial in nature.

Almost any material can be used in installation art.  My specific piece was done in metals that I found in my dad's stash of random, unused car parts.  Many of the pieces in Griffis Sculpture park are done in steel, aluminum, and wood.

Artists create installation art for many reasons.  Perhaps one of the most important is to make a statement or a point about something - as I mentioned earlier, installation art can be controversial in nature.  It can also be used to evoke a specific feeling.

The installation art I found to be most interesting was Dan Flarvin's Untitled.  I really liked his use of blue and green florescent lights to light a hallway in an interesting way.  I like how he used already existent architecture as a basis for his installation art.  Furthermore, I was intrigued that he lit the hallway in a way that the two lights didn't really blend together. 

Step 4:

When reviewing all the pieces, I really liked Robert Filliou's 7 Childlike Uses of Warlike Material.  For some reason, this piece really resonated with me.  I felt as though he was making a mockery of something very serious.

For my installation, I want to explore the theme of self.  I think it is very difficult to portray certain feelings, emotions, or values that you have, and I think this piece might be somewhat "therapeutic" in a way.

I'm planning on using metals for my project - my dad taught me how to weld last year and I really haven't done anything with my newfound skill.  He has a bunch of spare metals in a big bin out in my garage, so I'm planning on rifling through it and seeing what I can find.

I'm not sure where I want to put my installation.  I think I'm going to do something to do with my music/band, so I'll either post it in our practice space (which is used by more than one band) or as a sort of "hood emblem" on our drummer's drum kit.  

Describe your installation:

Nick Sessanna

Broken Fingers

Various metals

3/4/11

This piece is a metal base with random car parts welded onto it.  The car parts form two hands with broken or missing fingers (to go along with the theme for our new album, tentatively titled "Broken Fingers").  In the center of the piece, the words "Brother Keep" are welded onto the base.

The main elements and principles used in this piece are emphasis, balance, and unity.  The piece uses emphasis because the fingers are mysteriously missing or broken.  The piece uses balance because there are hands on both sides.  The piece uses unity because the hands are made out of random car parts and they all come together to make one big work of art.

This was an interesting piece.  I had a hard time coming up with an idea of something to create, but once I did, I created a lasting piece that my band will be able to use for shows or as some sort of art related to our music.  I would be interested in doing installation art in the future in a more public place to make some sort of statement, as I think it would be a good life experience.

Video Reviews

Through the Eyes of a Sculptor was about the life of a sculptor and their journey from beginner to master.  I also learned about restoration - a job that sculptors do beyond sculpting their own art.  It was interesting to learn how fickle of a material limestone is - it has to be stored at exactly 12 Celsius! 

I find this hard to believe, but I learned from the Glass and Ceramics video that some ceramic can be harder than steel.  I also liked watching the heating, shaping, and cooling processes of working with glass.

In the Installation Art video, it reinforced the controversial nature of installation art and also confirmed that installation art is 3D.  This reminded me of a controversy a few years back of two extremely expensive sculptures that were installed in the center of traffic circles in my hometown of Hamburg, NY - some people thought they depicted something vulgar and others thought the artist knew someone in the Hamburg government system.

To put it simply, these videos reinforce the material in the textbook.  I learned more about installation art, sculptures, crafts, etc.  The videos provided a "depth" to the concepts found in the book.  For example, the video Through the Eyes of a Sculptor not only showed sculptor's work, but also taught us about the day to day life of a sculptor - something the book did not cover.


When I was watching the sculpture video, I really enjoyed how it talked about the daily life of a sculptor.  It was interested to see his roots and where he came from - it was also interesting to see the various jobs sculptors work on.  When you think of a sculptor, you usually think of an artist who creates something like a gargoyle or a human nude - I now know that sculptors also work on restoration pieces!  I thought the Glass and Ceramics video was the most interesting, mostly because I find the medium of glass so interesting.  Finally, the Installation art video cleared up any misconceptions I was still having about installation art - I had thought that graffiti may have been considered installation art, but it is not 3D!

Blog Reviews

The two blogs I reviewed were David's and Chrissy's. 

I thought David did a good job demonstrating his knowledge of the principles of art.  I liked his use of a wooden heart for texture.  I also thought it was pretty interesting that we had a very similar picture, but for two different principles.  My light fixture was used to demonstrate space, whereas his was used to demonstrate balance.  They are both accurate, but I made sure to comment that it was interesting that two similar pictures can be applied to two separate principles.

Chrissy also did a great job demonstrating her knowledge of the principles.  I think we had a little bit more in common in terms of our subject matter since we both used cats to demonstrate texture and younger siblings to demonstrate movement.  I also planned on using nail polish to demonstrate emphasis.  I thought it was interesting that she used an icicle to demonstrate "line," when it probably also could have been used for harmony, unity, or even proportion.

David and I didn't have any pictures in common from our trip to the Albright Knox, but I did recognize a few pictures that I almost used.  I almost used Carcass of Beef in my "works that impacted me" category for the same reason that he selected it - because it was rather gory and "not for everyone."  I also almost used The Quiet of Dissolution because I liked how it demonstrated a city on the verge of being destroyed.

Again, Chrissy and I seemed to have more in common.  Chrissy took a picture of Ten Formal Fingers and said she was disgusted by it - I felt the same way!  Also, we were both very interested by Sol LeWitt's piece since we studied it in class in an earlier week.  Since it covers an entire staircase, we were both amazed by the sheer scale of the piece of work and by the amount of time and precision the artists who completed it must have used.

As I mentioned before, I was rather disgusted by Ten Formal Fingers and Carcass of Beef.  They pique my interest because they are, for lack of a better word, gross.  To be honest, I would like to know what possessed the artist to make these pieces in the first place considering their rather disgusting nature.  I'm still not sure why Ten Formal Fingers creeps me out so much, so I'm especially interested in that one.

It was nice to find another student who I had something in common with (Chrissy), even though we picked almost all different pictures.  Although I enjoyed reading David's blog as well, it seemed as though we had a different perspective on life in general.  Since they both did their projects, I did find the experience and their opinions somewhat valuable.

I actually really enjoyed reading the comments left on my blog.  Christina left some really valuable insight!  I was happy to hear we were both intrigued by the same picture at the Albright Knox (Untitled Flood).  Furthermore, I was kind of flattered that she enjoyed my slideshow so much, mostly because she complimented my cat, my guitar, and my little brother rocking out on the drums - three things that are pretty important to me!