Questions About This Art Course

  Which assignment did you ENJOY working on the best? Why?

-          The assignment I enjoyed working on the best was the first project in week 3. I like taking pictures and when I had to go around town to try and find what things in nature were the elements and principles of design that was something that seemed fun to me.

Which assignment did you ENJOY working on the least? Why?

-          The assignment I enjoyed working on the least was the art critique project because I do not consider myself a professional art critic and I think that I have no right to judge anyone else’s work.

How did you like using ANGEL?

-          I really like using ANGEL because it is easy to use. In the past I have used ANGEL at Erie Community College and it was comfortable to use, so I had a feeling that using ANGEL at Buffalo State College would be easy to use as well.


If you had the opportunity to change this course:

What would you keep?

-          In the course I would keep all of the art gallery visits and the all of the art projects, except the art critique project.

What would you remove?

-          I would remove some of the chapters that we had to read in this course, I don’t think that we needed to read the whole book to understand the concepts of art.

What would you add?

-          I would not add anything more to this course, I liked this course but it was a hard to finish because there was a lot to cover in here.

Would you recommend this course to your peers?

-          I have already recommended this course to one of my friends because she is interested in art and this course would help her understand art more.

Please list any other comments you would like to share.

-          I just would like to say that this course was a hard one but it made me appreciate art again.

Blog Reflections of AED 200

What were you expectations for this course and where they met?

My expectations for this course were to get a better understanding of art and how it has become so involved in our lives. And now I know how to use a blog and maybe in the future I will use a blog for something else.

Now that you've been through this course, what is art? How would you define it now compared to your initial posting?

My new definition of art is anything that is around us. Art does not have to be tangible to be there, we can feel it and with that feeling we can make it solid. Before I always thought of art as something that you had to see, now I know that you can feel it too.

Who was your favorite artist in your original posting and who is your favorite visual artist now? If there is a difference, why do you think so? If you have the same favorite artist, why do you think so?

Jackson Pollock was one of my favorite artists in my original posting, now is more than that. I consider him to be one of the best artists that have ever lived. It’s funny but I think, in some way, he helped me with my art critique project.

Now that you've completed this course, how do you feel about taking an online course? Is your answer the same as it was in your first posting? How is it the same or different?

I have to admit, this course was a lot harder than I was expecting but it was worth it. I love art and after taking this course I have become a member at the Albright-Knox art gallery and I want to take my daughter there more so she can get the same appreciation for art as I have. Next semester I am taking 2 courses online and I feel that this course has helped me to understand what an online course has to offer.



Self - Portrait

Paul Cézanne

Self Portrait 1898 – 1900

Lithograph

16 7/8 x 12 7/8 inches

Horace Pippin

Self Portrait 1941

Oil on Canvas Board

20 x 17 x 2 ½ inches

Frida Kahlo

Self Portrait with Monkey 1938

Oil on Masonite

16 x 12 inches

Why did you select the inspiration pieces?

I selected the self-portrait of Paul Cézanne because it was done differently which gave me the idea to do my own self-portrait in a new way. I chose the self-portrait of Horace Pippin because in it he is looking at the painting he is doing, and it reminded me to look at my self-portrait and focus on it. For Frida Kahlo, she wanted her self-portrait to represent her; this gave me an idea that I should do something that represents me.

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

I selected a digital representation of my self-portrait because nowadays I am always on the computer fixing my pictures that I changed my medium from oil paints to digital.

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

The challenges I faced was choosing a picture that I wanted for my self-portrait. I hate taking pictures of myself because I always think that I never smile right or I look fat in my picture, so choosing a picture was the hardest part of this assignment.

How does this piece represent you?

In my self-portrait it is cut up into little pieces, sometimes I feel that is how I am. Little pieces of me are everywhere, pieces of me are at school, pieces of me are taking care of my daughter, and pieces of me are doing housework.

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

Scale and proportion come to mind about my self-portrait.

Did you enjoy working on this project?

I love fixing up my pictures through digital ways because I consider this a new medium in art.

What do you think of your final artwork?

I like my final artwork because I consider it a new way to do a self-portrait.

Self-Portrait

My Picture

Reflections on Being an Art Critic

Which projects did you review?

The project I reviewed was “Love Though the Ages” by Haley Breier

 Why did you select the Exhibit you critiqued?

 I selected this exhibit because the title interested me and as I looked more through her exhibit I wanted to critique it.

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

 I never wrote a critique article before, let alone an art critique so I was a little bit nervous in writing this one. But I overcame this by watching the videos that the teacher told me to watch and then I looked up some websites on art critiques and just went with it.

How do you feel about critiquing your peers work?

I am a little bit nervous about critiquing one of my peers work because I do not consider myself a professional and I am no one to judge anyone’s artwork.

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

Part of me would like to read the critique that my peers wrote about my art project, but there is another part of me that would be really nervous on what they had to say.

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

 I would rate my finished article on a scale of 1-10 to be a 5. The reason is I have never really been good at writing essays let alone critiques, so this being my first one I would consider it to be ok.

Did you enjoy working on this project?

This project was ok, and I really didn’t like working on it because I do not like to give judgment about other people’s work.

Video Review on Art Criticism

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

The key concepts I learned in the video Greenberg on Art Criticism: An Interview by TJ Clark; was that I learned that the best artists of his generation felt isolated. I found out that Greenberg wrote a book on aesthetics and questions about it if was good or bad, he wanted no more talk about the times, he thought it was awful and he also thought it was not awful, this statement I was a little confused about. The next video, Greenberg on Pollock: An Interview by TJ Clark; the key parts I learned was that Greenberg met Pollock outside of a place he was working at, I learned that Greenberg told Pollock to never listen to what was written about him.  The next video, An Introduction to the Italian Renaissance (Giorgio Vasari); I learned that the artist Giotto indroduced a new way the Renaissance used. He was one of the very first to use architect and landscape to change the way they did art back then. Also I learned from the video that early Renaissance has improved on perspective and how light works, they created more realistic forms and backgrounds. The next video, The Critics: Stories from the Inside Pages; I learned that one of the reasons that critics criticize the media arts is to improve the media, and another new item I learned was that critics were went too far with the TV show Dallas, they just wanted to exploit the show and go overboard. The next video, The Colonial Encounter: Views of Non-Western Art and Culture I learned from the video that it showed images of the King of Dahome throwing his enemies over a bridge to their deaths.  The last video Jackson Pollock: Michael Fried and TJ Clark in Conversation, I learned that both these critics regarded Pollock as a major modern artist and both had different opinions of him. They also both agreed on the need of historical accounts of Pollock’s abstraction.

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

The videos give me a better grasp on how to handle my art criticism project. I can relate to them because it gives me a clear and new perspective on how to be a good art critic.

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

Jackson Pollock is by far one of my favorite artists and as the semester went by my interest in him has increased greatly. Watching the videos about Jackson Pollock was very interesting and I really liked those videos.

Art In The New Age

Well my reflection on this project is a simple one. Coming up with a theme and choosing the works of art was a simple task that I completed. But as for looking at the paintings and installation artworks, well that was a different story. Trying to come up with a paragraph for each individual piece was a lot more challenging then I thought it would have been. For most of the artworks I wanted to give my opinion on them and just go to the next one, but I knew I couldn't do that. So I would spend about a hour for a few of them just looking at these masterpieces and coming up with the right thing to say. So in the end I did accompish this as best as I could with some creative results.

I do have to say that the theme I went for was something that went with the art, because it was little bit unusal and each individual piece I picked was far from usual.