First of all, great job in critiques. You're drawings have turned out great and I have already heard a lot of great feedback from other instructors concerning the work on display in the hallway.
Tonight we will be introducing the human figure. The next two weeks will be focused on model sessions and practicing the introduction of visual measurement.. It is crucial to understand that your presence is necessary over the next two weeks. Each night of model sessions are worth 15 points participation grade (60 total).
D2: Your response to the article "Pictures" will be due next Tuesday.
Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
What is Art Criticism?
Art Criticism is crucial to an artist’s growth and ability to contribute to a larger dialog within art. In our class, critique happens both through the daily formative assessment of the instructor but also in the conversation between classmates. Through constructive analysis the individual artist should gain a more complete perspective concerning their own work.
After a project is completed we will conduct class critiques where students will display their work in front of their peers. The class will discuss each piece individually addressing both formal and conceptual aspects of work. Within these critiques students will be focusing on the successes of the work as well as potential room for improvements. Each individual viewer/critic must participate in the class conversation as it will have a direct reflection on class grade.
There are four major characteristics of art criticism that must be taken into consideration as we conduct critiques: description, analysis, interpretations and evaluation.
Description: In this step you will be asked to discuss formal aspects of the work that you can identify while viewing the work. This should not necessarily include personal opinion but describe the subject matter as well as artistic elements used within the composition.
Analysis: In this step you will discuss how the compositions formal elements have been organized and are interrelated. How do the components of the work interact? What are the similarities or contrasting elements? How are basic principles or techniques being used within a work.
Interpretation: The information described and analyzed is used to identify meaning or sub-text within the work. Through "interpretation" the viewer may seek to understand the ideas and expressive qualities of the work as experienced by the artist. The viewer/critics primary focus should be on how the work affects their personal thoughts. Personal interpretation should always be justified by evidence gathered from analysis.
Evaluation: Based on ones description, analysis and interpretation, how does the viewer judge the quality or success of the work? The following criteria may affect ones personal judgment: execution of technique, expressiveness, personal response, originality or position within cultural and historical contexts.
Regardless of how one responds to a work, constructive dialog must be the result. Through critical dialog artists’ grow and are stretched to consider their work less subjectively and with greater intention.
After a project is completed we will conduct class critiques where students will display their work in front of their peers. The class will discuss each piece individually addressing both formal and conceptual aspects of work. Within these critiques students will be focusing on the successes of the work as well as potential room for improvements. Each individual viewer/critic must participate in the class conversation as it will have a direct reflection on class grade.
There are four major characteristics of art criticism that must be taken into consideration as we conduct critiques: description, analysis, interpretations and evaluation.
Description: In this step you will be asked to discuss formal aspects of the work that you can identify while viewing the work. This should not necessarily include personal opinion but describe the subject matter as well as artistic elements used within the composition.
Analysis: In this step you will discuss how the compositions formal elements have been organized and are interrelated. How do the components of the work interact? What are the similarities or contrasting elements? How are basic principles or techniques being used within a work.
Interpretation: The information described and analyzed is used to identify meaning or sub-text within the work. Through "interpretation" the viewer may seek to understand the ideas and expressive qualities of the work as experienced by the artist. The viewer/critics primary focus should be on how the work affects their personal thoughts. Personal interpretation should always be justified by evidence gathered from analysis.
Evaluation: Based on ones description, analysis and interpretation, how does the viewer judge the quality or success of the work? The following criteria may affect ones personal judgment: execution of technique, expressiveness, personal response, originality or position within cultural and historical contexts.
Regardless of how one responds to a work, constructive dialog must be the result. Through critical dialog artists’ grow and are stretched to consider their work less subjectively and with greater intention.
Monday, March 11, 2013
Reminder
At this point in the semester it is easy to lose track of what needs to be accomplished and what the expectations are for class, so please let me reiterate a few important points.
1) Classroom attendance is crucial. Four absences results in a loss of a letter grade and will also almost certainly impact the quality of thought and process of your work.
2) Asking questions is crucial. After having a sub in class this last week it is important that you get in touch with me with your questions. If you needing a sounding board or if you need to share images of your work I would be glad to discuss it with you via e-mail.
3) Finishing your work is crucial. When critiques begin next Tuesday all of your final drawings will be shared: D1 - Master's Study & Final Abstraction, D2 - Three Object Drawing, Environment Study & Self-Portrait. Please be ready to share your work and discuss it
Critiques will go in the following order:
3/19 - Skyler, Victoria, Katelynn, Emily, Brittany, Ross, Nicole, Mike, Tatiana
3/21 - Beverly, Andrea, Isaiah, Joe, Lauren, Amy, Hannah, Stephanie, Sonya
1) Classroom attendance is crucial. Four absences results in a loss of a letter grade and will also almost certainly impact the quality of thought and process of your work.
2) Asking questions is crucial. After having a sub in class this last week it is important that you get in touch with me with your questions. If you needing a sounding board or if you need to share images of your work I would be glad to discuss it with you via e-mail.
3) Finishing your work is crucial. When critiques begin next Tuesday all of your final drawings will be shared: D1 - Master's Study & Final Abstraction, D2 - Three Object Drawing, Environment Study & Self-Portrait. Please be ready to share your work and discuss it
Critiques will go in the following order:
3/19 - Skyler, Victoria, Katelynn, Emily, Brittany, Ross, Nicole, Mike, Tatiana
3/21 - Beverly, Andrea, Isaiah, Joe, Lauren, Amy, Hannah, Stephanie, Sonya
Friday, March 1, 2013
Drawing 1 Students: Studio Work 3/5 & 3/7
Last class period we began discussing the relationship between "decision making" and abstraction. We discussed how your ability to make decisions concerning what will be included and what will be excluded in your work is a product of compartmentalization and abstraction. Inclusion/Exclusion, a type of "editing", is similar creatively to the decisions one makes when re-contextualizing images.
Both Tuesday the 5th & Thursday the 7th I will not be in class. You will have a sub and you will be working on a studio project. Attendance is mandatory and role will be taken.
In our newest project we will be appropriating images from the still-life and re-contextualizing them to develop an image based on your creative impulses and ideas.. Your job is to use the objects in the still-life to create a new and abstract rendering of what you see. The limitation is that you cannot use any objects or figures outside of the classroom still-life but the creative freedom comes in the fact that you can manipulate them in any way you see fit.
Your finished drawing should reflect an investigation of the objects, a creative interpretation of how they can be arranged and changed (you can alter the objects in way you see fit: melt, twist, distore, break apart,etc.).You may choose to create an imagery that reflects an awkward placement of the objects. You may decide that you want to create a narrative or organize the objects into a theme. You may decide to create a surrealist image. Whatever you decide to do, the final drawing image must not be a depiction of something that could naturally occur in reality.
In the end, this drawing should be personally interesting and reflect the technical drawing techniques that we have used in class thus far (ideas of gesture, form, value, texture, etc.)
REMEMBER: Please do not forget to post your response to A Brief History of Abstraction due 3/5
Critiques will follow our spring break:
3/19 - Skyler, Victoria, Katelynn, Emily, Brittany, Ross, Nicole, Mike, Tatiana
3/21 - Beverly, Andrea, Isaiah, Joe, Lauren, Amy, Hannah, Stephanie, Sonya
Both Tuesday the 5th & Thursday the 7th I will not be in class. You will have a sub and you will be working on a studio project. Attendance is mandatory and role will be taken.
In our newest project we will be appropriating images from the still-life and re-contextualizing them to develop an image based on your creative impulses and ideas.. Your job is to use the objects in the still-life to create a new and abstract rendering of what you see. The limitation is that you cannot use any objects or figures outside of the classroom still-life but the creative freedom comes in the fact that you can manipulate them in any way you see fit.
Your finished drawing should reflect an investigation of the objects, a creative interpretation of how they can be arranged and changed (you can alter the objects in way you see fit: melt, twist, distore, break apart,etc.).You may choose to create an imagery that reflects an awkward placement of the objects. You may decide that you want to create a narrative or organize the objects into a theme. You may decide to create a surrealist image. Whatever you decide to do, the final drawing image must not be a depiction of something that could naturally occur in reality.
In the end, this drawing should be personally interesting and reflect the technical drawing techniques that we have used in class thus far (ideas of gesture, form, value, texture, etc.)
REMEMBER: Please do not forget to post your response to A Brief History of Abstraction due 3/5
Critiques will follow our spring break:
3/19 - Skyler, Victoria, Katelynn, Emily, Brittany, Ross, Nicole, Mike, Tatiana
3/21 - Beverly, Andrea, Isaiah, Joe, Lauren, Amy, Hannah, Stephanie, Sonya
Postmodernism: D2 Read & Response
This reading is a very general overview of Post-modernism. In this response, please feel free to research and respond directly to the reading or consider drawing a contrast between postmodernism & altermodernism. Please try and think objectively about the topic and consider it in terms of how it impacts art.
Thanks,
Brandon
due Tuesday 3/5
10 points
Thanks,
Brandon
due Tuesday 3/5
10 points
A Brief History of Abstraction
This week we began discussing the stylistic differences between historical art movements both in content and and aesthetics.The intention of the following paragraphs is to give you an extremely broad context for certain departures from realistic renderings over the last several centuries. Abstraction is nothing new and is in fact as old as mankind. It has a rich history full of inexhaustible intentions. Please note that I am only attempting to briefly explain the reasons for monumental shifts over the last 500 years that effected western society specifically. This is not intended to explain abstraction or its philosophy but simply to give reasons for stylistic changes within art, specifically painting and sculpture.
In the western world, in centuries prior to the 1400's, art was primarily made as a reflection of spiritual or social constructs made in response to political structures or authoritarian commission. Imagery at times was propagandistic, mythological or decorative in nature and generally portrayed types of abstracted human and animalistic figures.
It wasn't until the European Renaissance that the ideal of representationalism became the focus of artists. The Renaissance was a time of innovation in technology and sciences. During this period their was a turning away from religion (not in theme but in personal practice) and a greater focus on social-interest and the progress of the sciences. Across the board artists had a desire to depict real-life with a sense of awe for the biology of the human form as well as nature & architectures mathematical properties.
Paolo Vernese, The Wedding of Cana
Representationalim is the deptiction of the natural world the way it is seen. In other words, when artists make artwork, they make it with the intention of capturing it accurately.
Several hundred years later (forgive the broad neglect of chronology and progress), with the invention of the camera, artists found reasons to make artwork that focused less on specificity of depiction and more on the "essence of reality". Artist began departing from the literal representation and began abstracting (departure from whats seen and the employment of categorical devices) the natural world around them. Abstraction is art that may or may not refer to reality but strives to represent thoughts, ideas and emotions through the alteration of reality.
Another reason for this evolution was the affordability of painting supplies and the artists freedom from the "commission" work. Artists could make more personal work because they were no longer tied to the demands of other individuals. Artists began experimenting with the placement of forms, color, medium as a reflection of personal thought as well as the excitement of experimentation.
Many artists in the early 20th Century were talented at representationalism but chose or grew into abstraction as a more creative way of expressing ideas. Pablo Picasso is a well-known 20th Century artist that worked in both representationalism and abstraction. See some of his progression and diversity below. Notice how the early work was more representational but over time he abstracted the human form by depicting it with geometric shapes, pattern and eccentric color.
Many contemporaries of Picasso and other abstract artists were not satisfied by using basic abstraction to depict the essence of reality. Artists throughout the last 120 years have departed completely from realism by working in pure abstraction or non-objective styles. Non-objectivism is based on artist pure imagination and creative impulses and has no overt visual connections to reality. Many artists have and continue to use pure abstraction (non-objectivism) as a way of creating work. See some examples below.
It is important to note that each stylistic movement continues to be explored within the context of a contemporary dialog. Artists are constantly recontextualizing, re-working, deconstructing and re-theorizing previous ideas and methods.
Kandinsky, Comp 8
Willem De Koonig
Jackson Pollock working on one of his floor paintings.
Jackson Pollock, #8
ASSIGNMENT: After reading the post, find three images that reflect each of the three stylistic differences (not necessarily from the eras discussed). In the comments section, post a link to each of the three images along with the name of the artist, work and time period.
EXAMPLE:
Artist Name:
Name of Art
Time Period:
Link:
Images can be found by using a search engine or going to museum websites. Below is a list of a few museums that have sites with lots of images.
http://www.moma.org/
http://www.guggenheim.org/
http://www.tate.org.uk/
http://www.googleartproject.com/
In the western world, in centuries prior to the 1400's, art was primarily made as a reflection of spiritual or social constructs made in response to political structures or authoritarian commission. Imagery at times was propagandistic, mythological or decorative in nature and generally portrayed types of abstracted human and animalistic figures.
It wasn't until the European Renaissance that the ideal of representationalism became the focus of artists. The Renaissance was a time of innovation in technology and sciences. During this period their was a turning away from religion (not in theme but in personal practice) and a greater focus on social-interest and the progress of the sciences. Across the board artists had a desire to depict real-life with a sense of awe for the biology of the human form as well as nature & architectures mathematical properties.
Paolo Vernese, The Wedding of Cana
Representationalim is the deptiction of the natural world the way it is seen. In other words, when artists make artwork, they make it with the intention of capturing it accurately.
Several hundred years later (forgive the broad neglect of chronology and progress), with the invention of the camera, artists found reasons to make artwork that focused less on specificity of depiction and more on the "essence of reality". Artist began departing from the literal representation and began abstracting (departure from whats seen and the employment of categorical devices) the natural world around them. Abstraction is art that may or may not refer to reality but strives to represent thoughts, ideas and emotions through the alteration of reality.
Another reason for this evolution was the affordability of painting supplies and the artists freedom from the "commission" work. Artists could make more personal work because they were no longer tied to the demands of other individuals. Artists began experimenting with the placement of forms, color, medium as a reflection of personal thought as well as the excitement of experimentation.
Many artists in the early 20th Century were talented at representationalism but chose or grew into abstraction as a more creative way of expressing ideas. Pablo Picasso is a well-known 20th Century artist that worked in both representationalism and abstraction. See some of his progression and diversity below. Notice how the early work was more representational but over time he abstracted the human form by depicting it with geometric shapes, pattern and eccentric color.
Many contemporaries of Picasso and other abstract artists were not satisfied by using basic abstraction to depict the essence of reality. Artists throughout the last 120 years have departed completely from realism by working in pure abstraction or non-objective styles. Non-objectivism is based on artist pure imagination and creative impulses and has no overt visual connections to reality. Many artists have and continue to use pure abstraction (non-objectivism) as a way of creating work. See some examples below.
It is important to note that each stylistic movement continues to be explored within the context of a contemporary dialog. Artists are constantly recontextualizing, re-working, deconstructing and re-theorizing previous ideas and methods.
Kandinsky, Comp 8
Willem De Koonig
Jackson Pollock working on one of his floor paintings.
Jackson Pollock, #8
ASSIGNMENT: After reading the post, find three images that reflect each of the three stylistic differences (not necessarily from the eras discussed). In the comments section, post a link to each of the three images along with the name of the artist, work and time period.
EXAMPLE:
Artist Name:
Name of Art
Time Period:
Link:
Images can be found by using a search engine or going to museum websites. Below is a list of a few museums that have sites with lots of images.
http://www.moma.org/
http://www.guggenheim.org/
http://www.tate.org.uk/
http://www.googleartproject.com/
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