Self Portrait

All Photographs and Inspirational photographs are below.

 1. Why did you select the inspiration pieces?

I thought that they were interesting self portraits.

 2. Why did you select the media to create your self-portrait?

I selected sketching with sketching pencils and colored pencils to fill in the color because I enjoy using them.  I enjoy trying out different shades of colors to create one color.

 3. What challenges did you face in creating your self-portrait and how did you overcome them?

The challenge I had was trying too hard to make my sketch perfect.  I find that if I just go with my first few sketches it seems more realistic.  I tried to stop myself from constantly erasing and redrawing.    

 4. How does this piece represent you?

I think this piece represents me as peaceful and content.

 5. What elements and principles of art did you apply in this work?

I tried to mix and layer colors to create a more realistic hair color.  I also tried to create a realistic proportion of my eyes, nose, mouth, eyebrows and fingers. 

 6. Did you enjoy working on this project?

I did enjoy working on this project.  I am finding that I miss drawing and sketching.  I am glad to be doing some of that creative stuff again.

 7. What do you think of your final artwork?

I am semi-satisfied with my finished work.  I wish I could have figured out how to make realistic curls like in the photograph.

 

My Self Portrait

 

Photograph for my Self Portrait

Images of Inspiration for Self Portrait

 

Triple Self-Portrait
Norman Rockwell
1960
Oil on Canvas
44 1/2 x 34 3/4 in.

 

I chose this piece because I found humor in it.  It is how I felt drawing a portrait of myself

 





The Desperate Man Self Portrait
Gustave Courbet
1843-1845
Oil on canvas
45 x 54 cm.

I chose this painting because I love the expression and the emotion I feel from it.

Self Portrait Laughing
Richard Gerstl
1907
Oil on canvas, Mounted on cardboard
15' x 11'

I chose this painting because he looks so happy, like he was enjoying himself.


 

Project 4 review journal

1. Which projects did you review?

I reviewed all of the projects submitted.  I found many of them to be very good.  Some of my favorites that I did not choose were the exhibit on Points, and The exhibit on Nature and Weather: The Spirit of Earth.

 2. Why did you select the Exhibit you critiqued?

I selected Joe Fragione’s exhibit “The Queen City” Buffalo, NY inspired Art because I thought it was very good and a creative topic.  I liked that the exhibit was based on regional art.

 3. What challenges did you face in writing the critique article and how did you overcome them?

I think it is always difficult to critique someone else’s work.  This course has been my first real experience with the terms of art and the styles of art also added to this difficulty.  I overcame these difficulties by just writing about what I saw and felt about the exhibit.

 4. How do you feel about critiquing your peers work?

It is interesting to view classmates projects and all of the creative themes for the exhibits.  I felt a little awkward critiquing a classmate because we are all learning together in this course.  But I really enjoyed Joe’s exhibit and thought it was a creative topic that was much different from the other exhibits.

 5. Would you like to read the critique your peers wrote about your Art Curation Project?

I would have liked to have read my classmates thoughts on my project.  But unfortunately I did not get to turn mine in due to being at the hospital with my son. 

 6. On a scale of 1-10 how would you rate your finished article and why?

I would rate my article as a 6 due to being new at critiquing art. 

 7. Did you enjoy working on this project?

I did enjoy working on the project.  I had chosen the topic of landscapes throughout time and it was interesting to see how the styles changed over time.  Also how different cultures painted landscapes. 

Module 15 Video Review

 Greenberg on Pollock: An Interview by T. J. Clark

Jackson Pollock: Michael Fried and T. J. Clark in Conversation

 

1. For each video list/discuss the key concepts you learned.

Greenberg on Pollock:  An Interview by T.J. Clark

During the interview Greenberg talks about how Pollock’s best work just happened.  He gave some insight on why Pollock painted in that style and how he drew better after 10 years of painting abstract than before.  He believed his paintings had no beginning, middle, and end.  The artists of the 50’s thought Pollock was a freak and his paintings were not real paintings.  Pollock was an outsider and had a romantic notion of an early death.

Jackson Pollock: Michael Fried and T.J. Clark in Conversation

Both agreed on statements about Pollock but they disagree on their reasons for their statements.  Clark believed he played a historical role in modern art; Whereas Fried stressed the independence of the aesthetics of Pollock’s works.  The 60’s allowed people to look at Pollock in a more productive way.  His works were looked at as optical art; because it contained a certain evenness and dispersal of energy, an alloverness kind of quality in its deployment of line and color.  Greenberg tried to cast Pollock as the great predecessor for Louis, Noland, and Krankenthaler.  They describe modernism as painting confronted with some kind of disjunction or collision between what I want to call its resources and its conditions.  They use much different vocabulary to describe things due to their views.    

2. Do the videos relate to the creation of your Art Criticism project? If yes, explain how. If no, explain why not.

I did not get to turn in my Art Criticism project due to my son being hospitalized; I wish I would have turned it in before I took him even though I was putting finishing touches on it.  But I believe they do relate to the project especially the video Jackson Pollock: Michael Fried and T.J. Clark in Conversation.  The reason I believe this video does is because it shows that people can agree that someone is a great artist but have very different reasons for their thinking.  I think this is a very important point with art, everyone has their own views and ideas about art. 

3. What is your opinion of the films? Do they add depth to understanding of art criticism?

I think the videos were very good.  I liked that Greenberg gives an inside view of Pollock’s work and life.  I think it gives more understanding and appreciation to his work.  The other video added to my understanding to hear them explain their different views on his work, even though they both believe he was a great artist.  It is interesting to see each explain their reasons for coming to that conclusion.  It also adds depth to hear the vocabulary that we have learned about art being used in relation to explaining artwork.    

 

Module 13/14 video review

Questions and Topics for Your Blog Posting:

 

1. For each video list/discuss the key concepts you learned.

Lowdown on Lowbrow:

Lowbrow art is art that no one knows how to categorize.  The term lowbrow is defined as a person regarded as uncultured or tasteless.  I found this movement as well as its art very fascinating.  Lowbrow art is always a narrative.  This movement was more open to women than any other.  Many artist did the work for album covers or comics.  It is sometimes called Pop Surrealism. 

Displaying Modern Art: The Tate Approach

This museum is free and has drawn in much more of a crowd than they even imagined.  They used to arrange the art chronologically.  But now it has been split into categories: landscape, still life, history, and the nudes.  Each category is then split into several different rooms, and the pieces that they put together in these rooms do not always work and can actually take away from each piece.  Chronologically would make more sense but they felt that many people would be fatigued and never get to experience the newest art.   

Bones of Contention: Native American Archaeology

These bones were collected for scientific reasons to study people, culture, and medical insights.  The Native Americans want the bones returned.  When building a highway they found a cemetery and state archeologists came to collect the bones and took them to a local cemetery for burial except those of a Native American girl and a baby which they took for examination.  They only buried the white people.  Archeologists collect bones of all different races to learn about them especially the skulls.  4,000 skulls were obtained due to the request.  The bones of Native Americans were collected in an attempt to save the culture.  The Smithsonian held the remains of over 18,000 Native Americans.  The Native American grave protection and reparation Act stated that the bones had to be returned to the tribes.  The problem with reparation is where should the remains be returned to?  They need to be studied to find those answers.  The archeologists believe they help to understand the history and migration routes of the people.  They see the bones as markers and without them they lose the history.  The Native Americans say that their oral traditions tell them all that they need to know.  But the archeologists can help them to determine health hazards.  Rheumatoid arthritis was discovered on Native American bones.  This could help to better the understanding of this condition and possibly a vaccine.  Paleontologist are also able to examine DNA from some of these bones, they can look at bacteria and how its changed since that time.  The Native Americans however do not want this.  Many States have passed strict laws that all burial sites and Native American remains must be left untouched.  However, the University of Nebraska has reached an agreement with the Omaha tribe that they could do research for cultural and medical reasons.  They believe the remains can tell their story through science.  This particular tribe has had a big problem with diabetes.  They would also like to use the scientists work to restore some of their knowledge of their tribe.

   

2. Do the videos relate to the creation of your Art Exhibition project? If yes, explain how. If no, explain why not.

I think the videos that will be of most help for my Art Exhibition project are the Lowdown on Lowbrow and Displaying Modern Art:  The Tate Approach.  The reason I believe these two will be of most help is that I learned quite a bit about Lowbrow art and what it is all about, and from The Tate approach I learned quite a bit about the arrangement of art museums and exhibits.  The film Bones of Contention: Native American Archeology gave me an appreciation of both the Native American tribes and the work of Archeologists, but I am not sure it will help with my project as I am not dealing with either subject. 

3. What is your opinion of the films? Do they add depth to understanding of the art concepts you practiced while creating your curation project?

I think all of the films were excellent.  I found the film Bones of Contention:  Native American Archeology to be of the most interested personally.  I do believe they all add a greater understanding of art and the curation of a museum.  I also am glad I got to see the film the lowdown on lowbrow because it was fascinating and it was a form of art not normally studied.