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!!