What I've learned from art

Seaform by Chihuly

I found his work very impressive!! I have been to the Bellagio in Las Vegas and his "Fiori di Como" is like a huge garden glass hanging from the ceiling and the colors of the flowers are so rich and vibrant! It's pretty cool!

I have really enjoyed this class and I have learned a lot. It's too bad that my major is not Art. I'm creative but I couldn't consider myself an artist maybe in my next life.
There a lot of things that I have learned in the class for example, one and two-point linear perspectives. How can I forget that unit? It took me a while to figure it out so I think I'm clear on the one-point linear perspective but the two-point linear perspective, probably I would never get.

I enjoyed taking pictures and creating my own Blog even if I am not an expert at it, I got it done. This class has clarified a few things for me such as the difference between abstract and non-objective art. Before I thought both were the same but I know better. I had a great time reading about Ofili's work and the controversy around "The Holy Virgin Mary".

Printmaking is interesting but I still couldn't tell all the techniques used in making an image without reading about it. The chapter about Painting was very informative, now I know what a "buon fresco and fresco seco" is. I thought that Ch. 12 was the best so far until I read Ch. 14 about conceptual art. I found it very intriguing and fascinating even if some of the artwork was pretty bizarre. For a moment when I saw "Mother and Child Divided" by Damien Hirst, I thought that it was an awful display but when I read about it, I felt better because I found out that the cows died due to pregnancy complications... I can't help it, I love animals!!
I thought that Perfomance Art was pretty interesting but sometimes hard to understand. For example, "Imponderabilia", probably I wouldn't have entered that gallery if those naked people were standing there at the entrance. I consider myself pretty open-minded but maybe I'm shy too because I would have felt weird to squeeze between them.
Well, I do have a better perspective on what art is and I am going to miss the class even if it kept busy at times...Have a great summer!

Conceptual Art

Loving Care by Janine Antoni 1993.

From my point of view, conceptual art is totally different from traditional art work. I don't think there a particular standard definition because it depends on the viewer's concept and interpretation of the work they are looking at. There are times when conceptual art works defies the "very nature" of what is considered art. Now the question is, whether the work is considered "art" because someone famous had done it?

Conceptual art is new to me but from what I have read and saw, it's a very diffrent way for artists to express themselves and usually in an "untraditional way". It can very creative, bizarre and quite crazy at times. It's like a new way to view "art" and the viewer has to interpret it and the meaning will vary depending on the individual's imagination and maybe even background.

After reading Chapter 14, I wasn't very inspired by the conceptual art work but after reading about Janine Antoni, I changed my mind. I really liked her work even if it's not conventional at all. I think she is so creative and "out there" but at the same time, she is unique. I think that it takes courage to do what she does, if I would be an artist, I would picture myself more traditional.

Janine Antoni was born and raised in Freeport, Bahamas in 1964. (By the way, Freeport is a small but beautiful Caribbean Island). She loves to leave an impression on the viewer and more often than not, she uses her own body such as her mouth, hair, eyelashes, and brain as tools and with them she perfroms everyday activities to create her "artwork". In the picture above, she is using her hair as a paintbrush and "Loving Care" hair dye as her paint. She dipped her hair in a bucket of hair dye and mopped the gallery floor on her hands and knees. She is imitating the domestic chore of mopping and exaggerating it. In this process, the viewers were pushed out of the gallery space as they were watching her. She likes to explore the body, as well as themes of power, femininity, and the style of abstract expressionism. http://www.artnet.com/awc/janine-antoni.html

2038 by Janine Antoni, 2000.

She likes to challenge the art world's rules and the "status quo" of the art by using "feminine" mediums.

Nurturing is also a theme in this photograph 2038, in which Janine herself, in an old-fashioned bathtub, appears to be nursing a cow identified as #2038 by the metal tag in its ear. "Here Antoni conflates the nurturing roles of woman and cow, contrasting the tenderness of this encounter with the reality of the cow’s existence as milk, meat, and hide for human use".
- Jennifer Bayles, Educator for Special Projects

http://www.albrightknox.org/acquisitions/acq_2003/Antoni.html

"Two Worlds Collide"

"Fictitious Protraits" by Keith Cottingham. http://www.kcott.com/


It's amazing what digital technology can do nowadays. Can you believe that these boys are not real? Cottingham used a mix of himself, drawings, wax sculptures and pictures of people of various races, ages and genders. So these boys are mutations of a number of actual and fictitious people. Voila! This is what he came out with after using digital image manipulation programs. Who could guess that these models really don't exist in the physical sense...

Obviously, photo tampering was been going on throughout history but I wasn't aware of it until reading this unit.

1942: In order to create a more heroic portrait of himself, Benito Mussolini had the horse handler removed from the original photograph. Amazing right?

I still find fascinating the old photographs in black and white from the 1800's. To me it's like a window to the past. We have the opportunity to see how they dressed, where they lived and what they did in their daily routines.

Below is a picture of the famous "Whaley House" constructed in 1856 in San Diego, CA.

Above is Thomas Whaley with his family. The moved to California in 1849 during the Gold Rush. He was a successful businessman and relocated from San Francisco to Old Town San Diego in 1851.

This is how the Whaley House likes today in Old Town, San Diego. From the outside, the Whaley House looks pleasant, even cheerful but inside, it shows a darker face because it's said to be haunted. The house was built over an old cemetery and near the gallows site. "Legend and ghosts haunt the house, levitating furniture, playing the organ and waling around" http://www.whaleyhouse.org/. I have visited the Whaley House when I lived in San Diego but unfortunately, I didn't get to see or hear any ghost.

This photo was taken at the Whaley House by a visitor. There is a ball of light in the middle of the staircase. It's believed to be the ghosts that live in that house. I'm not sure if it's visible enough in the picture.

I find all the ghost stories and pictures fascinating!! I just wanted to share a famous ghost story that it's well-known in San Diego.

Our technology has come a long way since the 1830's and photo editing, digital photo and airbrushing away photo mistakes is second nature. You can use the "clone stamp tool" in Adobe Photoshop elements to manipulate your own photo. At the same time, it has become harder to detect fake photos from a real one through digital photo manipulation. "Photoshopping" is a popular pastime but it's used into photojournalism and the media, then I think the issue of ethics should be addressed.

My Favorite Painting!!

Glass Window by Winslow Homer, 1885

www.eleuthera.com/glasswindow.html

Photo showing the two sides from the road heading north

I decided to choose one of Homer's watercolor paintings. When I saw "A Wall, Nassau, 1898" in our textbook, it brought back a lot of memories when I used to live in Miami Beach and took several trips to the different islands in the Bahamas.
I looked up more of his watercolor paintings and this one caught my eye.

Homer had a fascination for the sea as many of his canvases showed. I can say the same thing for myself, I love the ocean and the beach life. This painting is from one of the Bahamas many islands called Eleuthera. This bridge linked the districts of Governor's Harbour and North Eleuthera and it is known as the "Glass Window". This spot is a fantastic sight where the deep-azure of the Atlantic Ocean meets the turquoise Caribbean Sea. Sailors going south in the waters between New Providence and Eleuthera named this area the Glass Window because they could see through the narrow cavity to the Atlantic on the other side.

Below is a Google Satellite Map which shows the Glass Window bridge from above; note the difference in color of the deep Atlantic, and the shallow, tranquil Caribbean sides www.eleuthera.com/glasswindow.html.

I think that this painting shows the unique strengths of the watercolor medium at its best. Homer used charcoal underdrawing, rapid and expressive brushwork, other watermarks, drybush textures, and colors mixed on the page. His technique was natural and fluid demonstrating his innate talent for a difficult medium" http://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/artist14.html.

In this painting, Homer created "crisp" outlines with minimal details and strong value contrasts, This was his traditional watercolor technique, starting with a pencil drawing and then using a minimal pallete of colors such as "yellow ochre, burnt sienna, prussian blue, and ivory black". Additionally, he filled the picture with large wash areas that were blotted, scraped or accented with blossoms or other watermarks, and using drybrush in the foreground to reveal the paper's surface texture.

In this painting you can really appreciate the sparkling blue skies of the Caribbean and the light creates an invigorating effect on the pallete of colors. Homer liked to the presentation of landscapes, without human figures to create a relationship between nature and the viewer.

Ironically, Winslow Homer used to be an illustrator for New York periodicals such as the Harper's Weekly. He also worked as a war correspondent (illustrator) with the Union Army, producing Civil War themes throughout the 1860's and 1870's. As an oil painter, he didn't have a lot of success and some of the complaints about his works were that they were "dull and lack of finish". He started to paint in watercolors at the age of 37, and he became "critically successful' but his watercolor showings were not very profitable. He joined the American Society of Painters in Water Colors, probably to free himself from deadlines and critical reviews (http://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/artist14.html).

Art Visit

I chose to visit the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento because I heard from my friends that it was a very nice museum. I was very excited to go and I had the chance to go there in May. I started by the ground floor galleries, where they have Asian art exhibits. There were some sculptures such as the "BUDDHA" from Northern Thailand that was made out of wood, gilt, glass inlay, lacquer and metal. I thought that I would get to see more ceramics and decorative arts in that section but the collection itself was pretty small. I was a little dissapointed. I can just speak from my own experience because in South America, the museums have huge ceramic collections so I thought it was going to be similar in Sacramento.

Then I proceeded to the first floor galleries where you were not allowed to take pictures. There I remembered pretty vividly the "Minton Porcelain" from Mary Crocker's personalized fine table setting, circa 1870-1880. The colors were very rich, with saturated turquoise colors with delicate golden designs and the outer part of the plates had bright blues with flower designs in gold and white. It's too bad I don't have a picture of them. I don't think I can have an accurate description of them without a picture.

Anyway, I found the second floor galleries pretty amazing. It's a huge difference to view artwork in person than in the computer or a book. You can really appreciate the "real size and colors of the paintings". When I was, there had a special exhibition on display "The Language of the Nude: Four Centuries of Drawing the Human Body". It had a great variety of religious figures, god and goddesses, heroes, and even abstracts. There were almost 60 drawings from the 16th through the 19th century from Italy, the Netherlands, France, and Germany. It was pretty fascinating to look at them and at the same time, I am grateful that I had such an opportunity.

The secon floor had the biggest collections of European, American art, and Contemporary California art. My favorite painting was by Tino Rodriguez, a Mexican American artist. His painting is called "Xochipilli's Estatic Universe", it was done in oil on a medium size panel. The colors are very vivid and rich even though this picture looks a litlle fuzzy. Sorry, I tried by best but I couldn't use my flash.

Tino Rodriguez gets his inspiration from literature and mythology of diverse cultures like you can see in this painting.

On the background, there are four aztec statues and the sky appears to be blue-greenish in color. I think atmospheric perspective was used for the background. There are several butterflies and birds throughout the painting, all with rich warm colors. There is a hummingbird sucking on a flower towards the top of the painting in with red and green colors. On the foreground, there are marine shells at the shore and a ballerina in pink with a skeleton face dancing on a thin line. Again, in person you are able to see all these fine details. There is an Egyptian statue, the "Sphinx" on the pasture on the green area. To the lower right of the painting, there is an infant buddha in a bubble coming out of a red flower, that represents a mom's uterus.

Tino Rodriguez likes to use themes of metarmorphosis and transformation. In Aztec mythology "Xochipilli" is the prince of flowers, the god of beauty, song and dance. Also the face in the painting appears to be a dual creature, one side male and the other female. It's also a homage to the artist "Frida Kahlo". I found this painting very different from anything that I have ever seen. The artist introduces the viewer to a "world rich in pleasure that not only touches our senses but alters our perceptions" (Croker Art Museum).

In overall, my experience at the Croker Art Museum was great. I just imagined it to be a bigger museum but at least it was well kept. From the information that I read in a brochure, they are planning to expand it, so I look forward to go back once the expansion is done.

"Thomas Kinkade...Artist?"

Footprints in the Sand, 2008 by Thomas Kinkade

I was somewhat familiar with Kinkade's paintings because my mom and sister always loved them. I wasn't that impressed with them just because it's not my style. After reading the information in wikipedia and Kinkade's own website, I do believe that he is a true artist but at the same time he knows how to market his art work. I wasn't aware that his "wall hangings and spin-off products" amounted to around $100 million a year. I agree with the comment of Curator Mike Mcgee that Thomas Kinkade is "savvy in marketing" his poducts.

At the beginning, he used to sell his originals in galleries throughout California but times have changed. Nowadays, he also sells by mail order and retail outlets as high-quality prints (maybe now my mom can afford to get one of his prints). I don't see anything wrong with him hiring "skilled craftsmen" to add touches such as light effects to resemble the original work of art.

By looking at his own website, I found his collection of "cottages, cityscapes, and great outdoors", amazing!! I do see that he is a talented artist and if he chose to sell reproductions of his original works, why not? And why not use the QVC home shopping network? There are people that say that his paintings are "merely chocolate box art" but I don't see it that way. He emphasizes simple pleasures and inspirational messages and people seem to be drawn to his paintings.

There was a section in wikipedia about his "personal conduct" but it didn't bother me. I know that in the past, there have been famous painters with certain peculiarities and vices so why does he has to be perfect? Just because he is a Christian and paints images from Bible passages? People need to face reality and nobody can be perfect.

Lastly, if he wants to honor the men and women in uniform, why not? He gave several of his "Heading Home" canvas, a limited edition with a personalized hand-signature to people in the military. I think that's great! I don't see that as trying to get more consumers. And as far as the FBI investigation, I can't defend him or condem him, there is not a conclusion to the investigation yet.

Analyze That!!

This painting is fully saturated in warm and cool colors. The background has a big, green acqua palm leaves on a black surface. This kind of acqua color is a lighter value of green. In this image, foreshortening has been used. Both women have pretty large hands, legs, and body frames as compared to their small faces. They seem to be musicians and one is playing the guitar and maybe the other one is just listening.

The painting is two-dimensional, it has height and width only. There is not evidence of a three-dimensional space. The back wall shows analytical lines with precise vertical and horizontal lines forming a grid. Its color is bright red, high in saturation and the same goes for the color of the chair where the woman with the guitar is playing. She is wearing an intense, deep blue outfit. The saturation of the blue is pretty high. The border of her pants have a bright yellow design that complements the blue outfit pretty well. Again on the floor, we see the green acqua color where the music lyrics are placed.

The other woman is wearing an orange-yellow dress and the color of her face almost matches the color of her legs. Its a bright and intense orange. The guitar is made out of curved lines and has the same colors tones of the second woman sitting next to the guitar player. The overall feeling of this painting radiates high levels of energy with the use of both primary and secondary colors.

Watch the magic!

I took a picture of my neighbor's backyard around 1 pm. The pictures seems pretty bright, maybe with a golden glow. Even though the color of closer pine tree appears greenish in color, in reality, it's does have blue tones. The reddish ground looks brighter than it actually is. The oak trees on the background do show their real green colors, their saturation is pretty bright and their contrast is pretty high in light.

The bush next to the closer pine tree is light green, so I would consider it to be low in saturation with a high contrast. There several rose bushes with red, pink and white roses on them, but it doesn't show that much. There a couple of small trees with reddish tones, with rich burgundy tones. Surrounring the rose bushes and small trees there are river rocks that appear to be grey in color.

Looking farther, you can see the sky with pale blue tones with some white clouds. The blue in the sky is low in saturation.

This picture was taken around 8 pm and it appears to have a low contrast in the colors. The oak trees are still visible green but a bit darker, with more shade on them. The ground looks dark red, almost maroon. The hue of the sky is almost not there. The blue is non-existent but the surprising part to me is that the rose bushes do seem to appear more distinct. You can see the pink and white roses even if they are farther away.

The closer pine tree does appear now with blue tones, so its true hue is showing. But overall the picure appears duller. The light green bush is not as bright anymore so its level of value is low. The rocks surrounding the rose bushes and other small trees appear to be bluish in color, giving an impression of cool colors. This picture seems to be taken without a flash. That's my point of view because the colors are not bright anymore. It looks more like a fall, cooler day. By the distant oak trees, it even appears to be a little misty. Light can change the way a landscape can look from daylight to sunset. When light changes, colors change too. It's amazing!!

Analyze This!

"Banana Eater" by Amy Crehore

Line and Space

This unit has been very interesting but at the same time challenging. I never stopped to even think that there were so many varieties of lines. I was surprised to learn that there were "expressive lines", who knew?

This playground is one block from my house and I never considered all the lines, shapes and forms that there are in a play structure. There is even a triangle on top and a couple of vertical lines on it. Not to mention the circular curves in the slides..

My perspective has already changed on how I looked at the world around me. Lines can even express movement, I find all these amazing!

Picture of whitewater rafting at the American River in Coloma, CA.

I'm still trying to understand the difference between one-point linear perspective and two-point linear perspective. In this picture, I can see a two-point linear perspective. The vanishing point is on the horizon where the river flows down stream. Probably the recession is diagonal from my point of view. Besides that there are so many types of shapes in the river rocks, some seem more triangular, others more rounded.

It's true that we live in a 3-dimensional space. Now when I drive around my town, I'm always looking to see what kind of shapes I can see in nature or if I can find a linear perspective. There is a lot of nature and trees everywhere around here and everytime I see more contour lines in the horses and deer, specially the pregnant ones, too... I think it's great!!

I found this house around my block pretty awesome! It has so many shapes in it. The vertical columns by the balconies and the horizontal lines on the balconies itself. The main window is huge with an arch at the top and the shape of the roof on top of the window has a triangular shape. Some windows are rectangular and others are square. These are examples of analytic lines. They are the classical lines, pretty precise and controlled.

Controversial Art

So far I have to say that I have enjoyed this unit the most, learning about all kinds of different controversial arts. Artists interpret their own experiences, fears, dreams, frustrations, etc. in their work. In the case of Eric Fischl, his paintings are about real situations in life that some people might want to ignore or are considered taboo. His paintings are like fragments of a film, what comes next we can only imagine or speculate.

Birthday Boy by Eric Fischl

I was surprised to learn that the American culture is more closed-minded than the British culture when PBS removed a couple of his paintings from its television series. Probably, they didn't want the American public to be offended by them. I can't imagine that only conservative, beautiful dressed people, always smiling as an example would be the kind of art that we are supposed to "only appreciate". I love to see all different kinds of art work, of course there are times that I can't see what the artists was trying to accomplish. It's all about experiencing new things to me.

What I have learned that there has always been controversy about art throughout times. Either in sculptures, pictures, paintings, etc.

People make art controversial and are unable to appreciate it because they put their values and beliefs first when they judge art work. I believe that by having all types of art, people would learn and consider new ideas, challenge themselves, and also learn about diversity. There are times that maybe we won't understand or like the art work but that should prevent it from being displayed.

Robert Mapplethorpe's picture

Erotic ceramics from the Moche Culture in the National Museum in Lima, Peru. They are proud to display these ceramics from the Pre-Columbian civilization from 100 AD to 700 AD. As you can tell from this display, all civilizations have art work that could be viewed as controversial even in our times. People are still not willing to face reality or are not open to their sexuality. Maybe people think that by viewing these displays, some people might be encouraged to act a certain way shown on the piece of art.

Belvedere Apollo at the Pio Clementino Museum at the Vatican

Interesting but confusing Abstract Work

This abstract work makes me think that it has some nonobjective elements. The lines, colors, and shapes don't represent the natural world. I believe that it might have both elements. It'll take practice to really get the concepts more accurate. Abstract work by geckoartstudio

This is an example of abstract work by geckoartstudio.

Visual Literacy Reflections

Women and Dog

By Marisol Escobar

What I found more relevant in this unit is that I was confused what is really abstract work. I thought that nonobjective art was abstract art. Now I have better understanding of what abstract work is, even though there are times that the interpretation could be borderline between nonobjective and abstract as an example.

Also iconographic images were very intriging because if we are not familira with the culture, customes or background in a certain period of time, our interpretation of the art work could be totally wrong and ethnocentric. As what happened to me in "The Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini". I thought that the woman on the painting was pregnant, I never would have known that the scene could have been either an engagement or wedding ceremony. Well, know I know that customs in the 15th century were very different.

So far I think that I'm understanding the material in the chapters but I would certainly need more practice to understand art work that have two meanings, like abstract and nonobjective at the same time for example.

A World of Art

I found Robert Smithson's giant earthwork, Spiral Jetty

very fascinating. It reminded me of the Nazca Lines from Peru that you can really appreciate from an aerial view and have remained there for thousand of years.

He wanted people to see the world in a more innovative manner. He took a chance and created something that he will always be remembered by. Problaby he got inspired by the spiral design from past experiences, something simple such as a whirlpool. Now people go to this remote area to visit the Spiral Jetty.

The works of Bierstadt, Chen and Smithson have an element in common, landscapes. But the way they view it is not always the same. Bierstadt represented in the Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak, a landscape of the American West picturing Native Americans and its way of life but he combined it with his experiences of Europe's landscape. He recorded the world as he wanted it to be. He was more of a dreamer in his painting.

Chen's work in the The Central Mountain, was trying to represent a landscape representing a tangible philosophy. He used TAO, a "source of life" in a simple form that is always present in nature. He wanted to make the point that the yin and yang, which are opposite forces, are always present in heaven and earth.

Our Family

Larissa, my daughter at a snow park with the Brownies!!

Bodie, one of our American Eskimo puppies!!

About Me

Hi eveyone,

I am originally from Lima, Peru. I came to the U.S. when I was 19 years old. I lived a couple of years in South Beach, Fl and then moved to San Diego. I went to college there and lived 2 blocks from the beach!! I used to surf and enjoyed going to Happy Hours, that's where I met my husband. We have a daughter and she is almost 8 years old, also we have 3 cats and 3 dogs. We moved to Northern California to be closer to our families. We live in the foothills in a small town called "Cool". I am currently taking clases online to complete my Bachelors in Social Science with concentration in Education. My long term goal is to be a Spanish teacher at the college level. I'm taking this class to complete a couple of my general requirements. I'm really excited to be in the class because for months this class was closed. I suppose that somebody dropped at the last moment so I am in!!