Whitney's Art Blog

Heaven's Symphony

This week I had the chance to interview a contemporary artist, Charity Hockenberry. I think it’s amazing how artists draw their inspiration from different things and how they are able to take such personal things from their lives and make them into something beautiful. That’s why I found the work, Heaven’s Symphony, to be so inspirational because of the very personal meaning behind it. The artists made the work because she wondered what heaven would be for her daughter who was born stillborn. She also uses her art as a reflection of her own life and finds peace and harmony creating her art to know that her daughter, Flower, plays her symphony above.

The work Heaven’s Symphony is a mixed media piece created in 2011. The work contains glass beadwork, tissue papers, acrylic paint, chalk, glass, wires, and glue. It is abstract and has different lines, circles, and beads that overlap one another. The beadwork and tissue paper create a texture on the overall work as well. I love the way the beads make curved lines to give movement to the piece and give the viewer a very serene feeling when they think of the ocean.

I don’t at all consider myself to be a great artist but I learned myself that artists must draw inspiration from inside themselves in order to be great. During project three when we had to create our own work I was not able to create something until I found something I felt passionate about. This class gave me a great appreciation of what artists do and how it is so much more than just creating a pretty picture.

After this class one thing I can take away from it is how deep an artist must go to create their work. I never knew that it took more than just a talent for creating but also the ability to translate ones emotions and life experiences into a work. Artists uncover emotions that are very personal and may be hard to deal with and they make something beautiful that is a part of them out of it. One of my favorite things that Charity had said that resonated with me was, “The piece is extremely personal to me, but I feel this is what makes my art strong. Art is a Reflection of Life.”

After creating my sculpture out of trash for the third project I decided to research some recycled art. I found some amazing shadow sculptures created by Tim Noble and Sue Webster. The Shadow Sculptures use many materials including household garbage, scrap metal, and taxidermy animals. By shining a light onto the piles of rubbish they are transformed into something identifiable and even self portraits. The two artists seek to redefine how people view abstract images and define them with meaning.

The work titled, Dirty White Trash (with Gulls), is a work made up of garbage and taxidermy animals to create the image of the artists. The shadow of the work is meant to show the artists relaxing after they have created it. The artists felt it necessary to put themselves into the work so the viewer could understand their artistic practice. The pile of rubbish in the work is very abstract but when light is shone on it, it is made into recognizable figures. The work is symmetrical and has an overall balance to it. The contrast between the rubbish and shadow is also very visually appealing and makes it very unique.

I was also able to find an interview with the two artists where they describe a little bit about their art at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_zre1ddXPA. In the interview I found their inspiration for some of the work to be really interesting. For example, the two talk about one of their pieces, Falling Apart, and why they created it. After the artists had a huge fight they broke many things in their house and used it to create a piece of art. I think it’s amazing that the artists were able to take something so negative and use it as inspiration and make it into a beautiful artwork that tells about their life. I really appreciate the two artist’s honesty and ability to draw inspiration from everything in their life. I’m very happy I researched these artists and saw a very unique type of artwork that is recycled.

This week in class I had a chance to research and be inspired by a famous artwork. The artwork I chose to research was the Nike of Samothrace. I first saw the Nike of Samothrace two years ago when I visited the Louvre in Paris. When I looked at the statue I was amazed at how it still emanated power and personified beauty and strength even with missing its arms and head. The statue has always inspired me because it depicts such a strong female figure. The wings give the figure a lot of its power and hold the most visual weight on the piece.

The original figure was made in order to celebrate a victory of a naval battle. I wanted to make my female figure battling a present day battle against pollution. In the statue I added organic shapes in order to make it look more natural. I tried to give her an empowering stance and took the picture of it from lower to make her look much grander. When I first saw the statue I loved how powerful it looked because of the high angle it was being displayed at. I found a video that shows the statue and gives the full effect of viewing it in person, which I think is much better than in a picture at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qk6os4ZJZqo&feature=related I also made sure to use bright lighting to make the picture look more optimistic and victorious.

Reducing pollution and recycling is something that I feel strongly about and I was glad I was able to express this through my artwork. Nature is such an important ideal of beauty that I feel is often overlooked and not often personified in art.

One of my favorite art styles is impressionism. In each painting the artist uses colors and light in order to capture the artist’s impression of what they are viewing. Using impressionism an artist may paint the same object at different seasons or even times of the day and each work will look extremely different. Rather than capturing the exact way an object or person looks the artist is focused on recreating their own impression.

I find impressionism interesting and enjoy looking at it more than other styles. I know that what they have painted is different from what I would have done even when looking at the same object or person. When I look at a painting it shows me that each person views the world in a different way and we all see things differently.

I found it interesting to learn where the name impressionism came from. Claude Monet created a painting called, Impression, Sunrise, which began the impressionism style. When creating the painted he said, “landscape is nothing bit an impression” and that is why he chose the title for his work. Monet was not focused on creating a perfect copy of what he saw, one that would be easily recognizable. He chose to create something only he saw and was meaningful to him. Looking at Impression, Sunrise my eye is initially drawn to the bright red sun, the focal point, which really stands out against the cool colors in the sky. The painting is slightly abstract with the lines in the distant , although I can make out some of the objects. There is a balance to the piece and it gives the viewer a very calm feeling. When I look at the painting and get the calm feeling I like to think that is what the artist looked at and felt when he brought the work to life.

I wanted to learn more about impressionism and I really like doing so with videos so I found one that explains impressionism better than some articles that I have read at, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN2aTAPdVHI.

This week I went on a family vacation to Chicago and had the chance to visit The Art Institute of Chicago.

One of my favorite paintings I had the chance to see was, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, by Georges Seurat. My favorite thing about the work was the technique the artistused. Seurat’s technique was  pointillism where he used repetition by placing  tiny, brush strokes of different colors close to one another so they blend at a distance.I have seen the work before but viewing it up close and being able to see how all of the tiny dots come together to make a masterpiece was incredible. Looking at the piece my eye was initially drawn to the right side because the woman holding the umbrella seems to be the focal point and this section has the most visual weight on the work.

Looking at the painting shows many different people coming together in one common area but it seems that they all are distant from one another. Each person sits or stands alone or accompanied by one other person and is seems to be distant from others around them.

I researched some possible meaningsbehind the composition. Some believe it was representative of the growing middle class at leisure. The theory I agree most with is it represents the tensionbetween different social classes; they all gather in a common space but do not interact with one another. Viewing the painting and trying to interpret its meaning I got the impression that the artist was trying to dipict people gathering but still being isolated from one another.

Overall, I enjoyed my experienceat the Art Institute of Chicago and saw many amazing, works. I also found the museums website that allows you to explore the museum and find more about each work at: http://www.artic.edu/aic/exhibitions/current.php

The Mona Lisa is one of the most famous paintings of all time. Two years ago I had the chance to visit the Louvre and finally saw one of the most popular works of art in the Western world. I had to wait about five minutes to get past a group of other tourists and view the painting. The work was protected by bulletproof glass, a rope for onlookers to stand behind, and a security guard stood close by. After seeing it I thought it was a nice painting; much better than I could ever do but I didn’t understand why it was so famous.

After traveling to several art museums and taking art classes I have viewed many portraits of women over the years. So I decided to research why the Mona Lisa has become one of the most recognizable paintings.

One of the most interesting reasons I have found why the Mona Lisa is still extremely famous today is due to the mystery behind it. Portraits have historically served several purposes, and the Mona Lisa never really fit into any of them. Those who study the work want to know why Da Vinci painted this women and this one of the reason the painting is still talked about today.

Another mystery behind the work is the identity of the woman. Theories have ranged from it being a marriage portrait to there being no actual woman. It has been suggested that Leonardo used himself while looking in a mirror and using himself as a guide. The figure could have even been painted from his imagination with no certain model being in mind.

If the mystery behind the work were not enough to make it famous the work also revolutionized painting portraits. The pose  broke tradition.  Portraits previously were often full length. Leonardo introduced the waist-up, hands-folded-on-lap approach which allowed a more intimate viewing of the subject. This pose came to be imitated for years to come.

Although I may feel it is a little overrated I still find the painting to be impressive and well done. The emphasis on her smile gives it a very life like quality. The lighting in the background gradually fades with distance and gives it a very realistic qualityas well. Overall, i feel the painting is beautifully done and will continue to be gazed at and wondered about for years to come.

Since it is impossible to get too close to the painting I found a website that allows you to see it up close and explore it future: http://www.louvre.fr/llv/dossiers/detail_oal.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673229908&CURRENT_LLV_OAL%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673229908&bmLocale=en

This week in class I researched and learned a lot about the artist Frida Kahlo. When we chose the artist we wanted to research I knew very little about Kahlo and had only seen a few of her self portraits. Initially I found her interesting because I knew she had done some very trippy paintings and had an extremely unique look but after doing some research I found her as a person to be even more interesting.

Frida Kahlo had an extremely tragic life which inspired her many paintings. Although Kahlo had many misfortunes in her life I found her inspiring because in her own way she managed to make the best of each situation. Kahlo had not planned to become an artist and only began to paint after getting into a car accident which left her unable to walk for a long period of time. She suffered many long term effects of the accident, one of them being she was unable to have children. Kahlo adopted many animals and incorporated them into her art; she often thought of them as her children. Kahlo often found herself alone and endured two failed marriages. Due to this she chose to create self portraits because she claimed she knew herself best and found herself to be her own best friend.

After learning more about Frida one of my favorite things about her art is her use of symbolism. When I originally looked at Kahlo’s art I saw it as being ‘trippy’ but when I learned more about her I found that each thing was significant to her life. Learning this causes me appreciate and understand each piece even more. I found a website that displays Kahlo’s work and you can see why each symbol is important to her at http://www.pbs.org/weta/fridakahlo/worksofart/monkey.html. Knowing what Kahlo has gone through makes me respect her work even more because I respect her as an artist.

One of my favorite paintings by Kahlo is The Two Fridas because of the use of symbolism. The painting shows two images of Kahlo symmetrically balancing the work. The focal points of the work seems to be the two hearts of the women, symbolizing her ruined relationship and broken heart. The figure on the left has blood stains on her dress showing a contrast between the pure white dress and the blood symbolic of her miscarriages and loss of her husband. The shading in the background shows a dark and stormy sky symbolic of what a depressing time Kahlo has experienced.

Kahlo is an inspiration because when she began her work she broke many rules as to what art should look like. When Kahlo began painting there were few women in art and muralism was the popular form of art at the time. Frida also refused to conform to the normal standards of beauty for the time. Rather than wearing more European and elegant dresses, Kahlo wore bold colors and stayed true to her Mexican heritage. A noticeable trait of Kahlo is her monobrow and facial hair which she often over exaggerates in her paintings.  This is meant to be political statements towards feminism because in western culture they were seen as undesirable. Overall I really enjoyed researching Frida Kahlo because of her strength, leadership,and rugged individualism.

The Two Fridas

Before taking an AP art history class my senior year of high school I never understood why people were so fascinated with Stonehenge. My teacher was so passionate about Stonehenge that she had visited it several times and even was escorted away from it by the police for getting to close to the prehistoric monument.  My initial thought was that nothing could be special about a bunch of rocks. I would not have considered it to be a piece of art at the time until I learned more about it and even had the opportunity to see it in person.

Stonehenge is estimated to have been constructed in about 3100 BC and is located in Wiltshire, England. When Stonehenge was originally constructed it was symmetrically balanced but now after the effects weathering it is asymmetrically balanced. Stonehenge is composed of artificial changes in land level surrounding a circular setting of large stones set vertically in the ground. The orientation of the stones in the monument are arranged vertically and some a placed horizontally on two vertical stones to make a trilithon. The stones all appear to be on the same level and there appears to be no focal point.

One of the most interesting things about Stonehenge is the mystery of how it came to be and the purpose it served.  There are hundreds of myths and legends about the creation of Stonehenge. Some of the theories of who was responsible for the monument range from the Romans, Greeks, and even some attribute the construction to aliens. One of the more popular theories of the purpose of Stonehenge is it was used as an advanced astronomical calendar. The sun often aligns with the stones at the summer and winter solstice and it is thought to be more than a coincidence. With the alignment it seems that whoever constructed Stonehenge had precise astronomical knowledge of the path of the sun. The builders also knew before

A picture of me at Stonehenge

they began construction exactly where the sun rose at dawn on midsummer’s morning while standing on the site. Others argue that the builders were too primitive to create an astronomical calendar and the monument was used for rituals and sacrifices. More theories can be found at the website:  http://www.mendhak.com/85-stonehenge-theories-myths-construction-and-images.aspx.

Very often people believe those responsible for creating the structure to be primitive. One thing I find fascinating about the structure is it is highly accurate for the period. Those who created Stonehenge required a great deal of human power and required high organizational skills. I believe calling the creators primitive is unfair and incorrect.  The creators were highly skilled and had great knowledge on how to create a structure so great. I decided to research a theory of how the creators could have moved these stones and found a video that can be seen by clicking here Seeing the video and how this could have been done made it easier for me to understand than just reading about it.  This gave me a great respect for the creators and how resourceful they had to be to make the monument.

The actual purpose and creators of Stonehenge will likely be debated about for years to come but I believe the great accomplishment the creators achieved is evident.

A picture I took

After exploring local artists on pbs.org I found an artist whose work was very unique and interesting. The artist Elizabeth Murray, http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/murray, is said to be a pioneer with her work. Many of her pieces jut out from the wall and are sculptural in form. I found the abstract pieces to be very unique which was why I chose to write about Murray.

In the article about Murray it includes an interview about one of her pieces, Bop. Bop is a very abstract piece, like many of her other works, and includes an asymmetrical composition. In the piece there does not seem to be any certain focal point. The eye is drawn to the many bold shapes in the composition. The shapes in the piece are non-objective and they do not overlap one another.

I learned in the interview the process that she goes through for each piece. Murray starts with a drawing of the shapes she would like and then has it cut out of wood, covered in canvas, and then painted. She enjoys including shapes in the piece that are abstract but can be sometimes recognizable. She describes one figure as a, “cloud with windows.” She likes to make her pieces comical but also can be serious at times; the way she considers life to be. Hearing her interpretation about life and how she translates it into her art made me appreciate the piece even more. After reading the process of what it requires to make each work it gives me a greater respect for the artists.

I found the interview with Elizabeth Murray to be very interesting because I have very little knowledge of any living artists. I have visited a few museums in the past and seen some famous works but I know very little about what an artist does to make a work of art come alive. Reading about Murray’s inspirations and what she does to create each unique piece has encouraged me to look at more than just the piece itself.

A snapshot taken from Second Life

This week in class I was able to explore the Sistine Chapel in Second Life. My avatar was able to explore the works decorating the walls of the chapel. One work I chose to focus on was the,Baptism of Christ, which I have included a snapshot of from Second Life.The work displays a symmetrical composition with the focal point being on Christ in the center. The symmetrical composition is divided by a river in which Christ is being baptized in. On each side on the crowd of onlookers provides a balance and each person placed side by side demonstrates juxtapose. Adding to the symmetry of the work there are two figures which appear to be preaching to the crowd almost directly across from one another. A dominant shape is placed directly over Christ with a figure in a geometric shape. It is symmetrically balanced with an equal number of angels on each side.

After viewing the work in Second Life I was able to explore more about the Sistine Chapel on the internet. On the website,  http://www.wga.hu/tours/sistina/index_b.html, I was able to find more works by the artist, Pietro Perugino. The website included up close details of the work and I learned the artist, Perugino, was the only artist to leave his signature in the chapel above the depiction of the baptism. I also learned that Perugino produced the largest contribution to the chapel with altar wall paintings and three additional pictures.

While researching the work I learned that it is a fresco and wanted to learn more about what a fresco is and how they are made. I was able to find a video, What is a Fresco? , describing the process and demonstrating how a fresco is made. Learning how this is done gave me a great respect for the artist. When completing a fresco I learned how careful one must be since there is little room for error when working. The video showed me how the paint is absorbed into the plaster of each work and gave me a greater understanding of how each fresco came to be.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Overall, I found this week of classes exploration to be informative and interesting. I found many useful tools through second life which I can use to explore more works of art further.