post for 4/3

"Beyond the classroom,...you will find it essential to be able to discuss your work with others when you attempt to obtain gallery shows, apply for grants and other sources of funding for your work, or present your designs to a client."

Respond to the following after reading Chapter 2 in your textbook:

1) Select a quote or phrase from one of the artist statements featured in Chapter 2 that you think is very different from how you think about making art, and describe how this idea is new and different to you.

2) What is the difference between denotation and connotation in terms of the interpretation of an artwork?

Kehinde Wiley's Napoleon Leading the Army over the Alps, 2005

Post for 3/27 -

From Chapter 13 in your textbook "Making Art", respond to the following questions:

There is often a divide among those who look at and talk about art between an Intentionalist approach to understanding art, and an Interpretive one. It is often very important to those who take an Intentionalist stance to know something about the biography of the artist - who they are, what experiences they have had in their lives, what their cultural background is and how this affects their intentions. Others prefer to view the work of art without knowing these things and bring their own cultural associations and ideals to it. Look at the artwork by Willie Cole below.

1. First, bring your own interpretations to the artwork; what things do you associate with this radial form? What other forms do the iron burn marks remind you of? Why would he have used mattress padding instead of a more traditional medium like canvas? How do you interpret the meaning of this work?

Willie Cole, Sunflower, 1994
1994. Iron scorches and lacquer on canvas over mattress padding, 80 1/2 x 78” 

2. Read the interview at this link. How does this change your view of the artwork?


Lastly, watch this tutorial on using layers in Photoshop:

For Wed 3/20. . .and bring Midterm work

During class, we watched a segment of NOVA's episode on fractals; Hunting the Hidden Dimension. Consider structure in chaos when you copy and repeat your designs to create this week's composition. The whole program is below:

Bring finished, mounted critique projects to our next class session for Midterm grading:
Rectangles compositions
Letterform compositions
Aaron Noble comic book ink drawings
Terry Winters drawings (2 computer, 2 ink)

Post for Wed 3/6 - Get ready for Pencils and Pens...

We have talked in class about the power of Illustrator and vector graphics.
This week we will use vector graphics to trace a real-world object (the object you're scanning this week) and convert it to shapes. Watch the tutorials below in preparation for using the pen and pencil tools. They will introduce you to the tools. In class, you will teach each other what you've learned and work on mastering the tool. Your blog post for this week should acknowledge that you saw the tutorials, contain any questions you might have in preparation for class, and optionally - contain a link to a piece of graphic design you have found or like that uses vector graphics (flat, Illustrator shapes - some examples below).

http://www.adobe.com/designcenter-archive/video_workshop/?id=vid0037
http://www.adobe.com/designcenter-archive/video_workshop/?id=vid0039

Formal Analysis vs. Description

In class on Wednesday, we discussed the formal aspects of artworks (form: line, shape, color, value, texture, composition, movement). The pages below are excerpts from "A Short Guide to Writing About Art".  These excerpts help to distinguish between a description of an artwork and a formal analysis. In other words, between simply saying what something looks like to to using words that actually do something - that tell us how the marks and colors and movement make us feel about an artwork.
(Click to view them larger... )

After you have read the excerpts, write a four sentence formal analysis of the painting below. Remember, use sentences that tell us something about how the painting makes you feel, what it does. Don't say something is "interesting" (interesting could be good or bad), rather use words with more strength, opinion and emotion.

For example, "there is a blue line down the middle of the girl's face" tells us nothing about what it does to the girl's depiction - try something like, "a pale blue tinted stripe splits her face into two opposing halves; one demure and serene, the other a stringent, unrealistic yellow."

Ways of Seeing - Chapter 7, second half

Read the second half of Chapter 7, then give some thought to the following questions and leave your response in the Comments section:

1) Discuss the following section from this chapter: "The power to spend money is the power to live. According to the legends of publicity, those who lack the power to spend money become literally faceless." -- Why does the author connect the idea of one's visual image to one's power?

2) The author writes, "Publicity turns consumption into a substitute for democracy"?! This is a shocking statement. What do you think about this? What does it mean in your life? Is it true in your life?

2D Design - First post for Spring 2013!

Ways of Seeing - Part 1 and Chapter 7 - respond by Wednesday Feb. 6th


In the comments section, respond with your thoughts on the following questions which relate to Chapter 7 in Ways of Seeing:
1) In what ways does the author mean that publicity images refer to the past and the future, but never to the present?
2) What does the author mean by the "total [publicity] system"? What would your world look like with NO ads in it?
3) Do you agree or disagree that advertising is representative of a Free Market system, in that the consumer is able to see ads, make an informed decision about which products they want to buy, and go buy them? Does publicity offer free choice in its purest sense?