Origami

Origami is something that has always fascinated me since I was a child. My best friend and I used to always make things out of paper back in elementary school. She was the one who knew how make everything and she used to teach me. Several years later, I got a origami book but I still haven't really made anything from there, because the directions are really complicated.

The art of origami has been around since the 17th century. The most famous thing made out of origami is the paper crane. It is said that if someone makes 1000 paper cranes, they will be granted a wish. I heard about that since I was small, and even thought about doing it. But then i was like, what if this is not really true? and it would be a waste of a lot of paper and I didn't know where I would keep all the cranes.

Sally Mann

Since this week we were talking about female artists, I decided to blog about Sally Mann, who is a photographer. One of the things she is known for is her photographs of her three children, Emmet, Jessie, and Virginia, that reveal what is meant by growing up. There was a controversy of this becuase there was accusations of child pornography. Mann said that she was just taking pictures of what she saw though the eyes of a mother. She also photographed southern landscapes. In the mid 1970s she had her first one-woman exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in DC. This exhibition contained pictures of the construction of the Lew Law Library.

A collection of her work, What Remains, features dreams or nightmare like images made with rustic scenes in pictorialist styles, some of which include dead and decaying human bodies.

Dream Weaver

The informational session at the library on dream weaver was really helpful. At least now I have some idea of how to get started on creating the website for the project, because i've never had any experience with computer programming or creating a website. I'm kind of excited for this project now, beucase it doesn't seem to be difficult as i thought it would be.
I guess with doing some more research online, I'll be able to find out more way on how make the website more creative and interesting!

Corn Maze

Corn mazes are another type of public art. I think it's pretty cool how people can design these. It must be really hard though to create the maze itself. I think it'd be cool to go through one of these one day, but I'm sure that I would definitely get lost! I really like the design of the butterfly maze that I've posted.

Titian Exhibit

On Thursday, i went to go see the titian exhibit. Personally, I didn't really like this exhibit. Overall the paintings were really good but their subject matter didn't really appeal to me since it was mostly religious human subjects. But Titian did a really good job on the detail of the people and also with the use of bright colors that stood out. With the gold frame and the red background on the walls at the museum, the paintings looked really good when looking at them from a distance.

Calligraphy

Calligraphy is one form of art. I personally think that it is a really beautiful form of writing, especially when you look at Chinese calligraphy.

Here is a clip of a man writing in Chinese calligraphy. He does it so fast, and it must have taken him many years to master that skill.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4ghtJolXC8

Art Museums

Here are a few images of different art museums that I found. I thought their designs were very interesting, and that the museums themselves are a art.

My Presentation

I think my presentation went well. It was a lot better than I thought it would be. I was really nervous about presenting, but once I got up there, i was fine. And the time up there went by really fast. My topic was different types of public art thats found on campus and how this creates an identity for who we are as college students. I started off by talking about public art objects that seemed pretty obvious, and then I slowly moved onto other forms that weren't really so obvious, ending with the Tech trolley. When i first took a picture of the trolley, I didn't really think i would be using it as part of this project, cause it didn't seem like it would be considered public art. But then i realized that it was because someone somewhere took the time to design the way it looks. It's not an ordinary bus, and it's available to students throughout campus. It creates an identity for who we are as GT students.

I wasn't really sure what my theme was going to be either. But as i took pictures around campus, i realized that we have a variety of public art here and how it's really an important part of this college campus.

Overview

Overview of the visual essay project:

I really enjoyed working on this project. Why? well one of the reasons i would say is becuase i like to take pictures. And i've noticed now, that when i've been driving around town, and i see some statue or waterfall- i'm like hey, that's public art. I guess i never really realized how much public art means to our society.

I also liked some people's topics they chose, including just focusing on benches, street lamps, or even stairs. It never really occurred to me that benches or street lamps or even stairs could be considered as public art. But I now have realized that not only are those things considered to be part of public art, but many other things as well.

I think that everyone did a great job on their presentations. I thought that a lot of people would have the same images, or even the same topics, but even if they had the same images (which weren't as many as i thought there would be), they would be taken from a different perspective or that person's topic was different. So essentially, the same object was part of two different areas of public art.

Wrapped Reichstag

In class this week, we were shown some public art that Christo and Jeanne Claude have done. I found it really interesting how they art is on a very large scale basis. For example, they put up orange fabric throughout Central Park. In Berlin, they covered the entire Reichstag building with fabric. The Reichstag was only covered up for 14 days. I really like the birds eye view of the reichstag.

Visual Essay

I think for my visual essay project, I'm going to do a theme of public art on Georgia Tech campus. Cause around campus, there's so many different types of public art that can be seen. Some include: the different types of architecture, chalk drawings, statues, monuments, and posters. Here are a few pictures that i have taken so far.

Public Art

So what exactly is public art? Public art is art not found in museums. It is art that is found outdoors and art that represents the public. Some older cities have older monuments and statues where as newer cities have more modern works of art as monuments. Public art consists of sculptures, buildings (architecture), monuments, chalk drawings (like what we have here on campus) and much more. I believe that public art is a way to show people what is out there in terms of art. If they are not able to go and see what artworks are in museums, then at least they can see art through public art, which is free for them to see.

Food Art

Did it ever occur to you that food can be a form of art? It didn't really click into my head until I remembered when i used to go on holidays in the Caribbean, they would always have a watermelon or pineapple cut and shaped as something, whether it be a person or an animal. These carvings that the people do must take a lot of skill and patience. And just to think that one wrong move and it could result in the whole thing getting messed up. I found two examples of 'food art.' One is Mr. Potatoe Head made out of many many cans. Another (i thought was cute) was a panda bear face made out of sushi. I guess one of the reasons people do food art is to get people to like and eat their food. I'm guessing this works a lot with little kids. If you make a food that they don't like fun in a way, you could actually get them to eat something they normally would make a huge fuss over.

The High Museum....Again

I went to the high museum again on Thursday, when it was GT Night at the High. I went with a few friends who wanted to see the Dali exhibit. Even though i had already seen it, I still went to see it again a second time. And it surprised me the amount of new different things you can notice in a painting the second time you look at it. I think Dali's paintings are ones that I won't really get tired of looking at. Each time I look at one of his paintings, I seem to notice something different. I guess it's cause the first time i was looking at them i was really ashtonished. Even for Debris of an Automobile Giving Birth to a Horse Biting a Telephone, which is the painting i did for my paper, I noticed different things compared to the picture i was looking at online. You're able to see more details when looking at an actualy painting compared to looking at a picture online.

Sand Sculptures

Sand sculptures are really amazing. I don't even know how those artists do them. It really must take a lot of time and effort to do something like that. And it would also depend on the sand that is on the beach. They'd have to mix the right amount of water to get the sand in the right condition. I have never seen a sand sculpture in real life, but the ones i have seen in pictures really amaze me. It'd be nice to see a real one one day.

Photoshop

Art isn't just about what is done with paper and pencil, or paint on canvas. With the technologies that we have now, art can also be done on computers using several different programs. Photoshop is one of these. With photoshop, so many different things can be done to a picutre not only to make it better, but to change it totally. Someone can easily take a picture of something and alter it in such a way in photoshop, it would look totally different. But not only that, they can create something (like the picture above) starting with just a blank white page. It is amazing how with the technologies that we have now, art has a wide range of what it can be.

Sidewalk Chalk Art

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECeGwg7Cm0A

Many of you have probably already seen some forwarded email or youtube clip on sidewalk chalk art, but i think that it's just amazing to see everytime you look at it. And it only works when you're looking at it from the right angle. This clip is of artist Julian Beever and his sidewalk chalk art.

Art is everywhere

So while I was waiting for the MARTA train today on my way home for the weekend, I saw this piece of artwork hanging on the wall. I didn't really expect to see such a thing while waiting at an underground train station. I couldn't really make out what the shapes and stuff were except for the yellow lizard right in the middle. I guess that's what the focus might be on since it captures the viewers attention right when they look at it.

And once I saw it, I realized that art can really be found anywhere and everywhere. If you just look at a building, it is art because somebody designed it. Even outside of the high museum there were artistic structures that were really fascinating. Even the ice cream swirl outside the Ferst Center is an artistic structure that is found on campus.

Debris of an Automobile Giving Birth to a Blind Horse Biting a Telephone

So I finally decided which of Dali's paintings I am going to do for the visual art assignment. I'm going to be doing Debris of an Automobile Giving Birth to a Blind Horse Biting a Telephone. It's a really long title for a painting. One of the reasons that I chose this painting was because there is so much going on; it is almost as if a story is being told. The main subject in the picture is a horse, but not just a regular horse. It is one that is being transformed into to a automobile, as the title insists. One notable thing in the painting is the light source. There are only two visible light sources in the painting, the hanging light bulb in the foreground and the moon in the distance. Another reason I chose this painting is because there is only one color scheme that Dali has used; he only uses dark colors in the painting to get the effect of the night life depicted. The title of the painting tells a lot about what is going on in the painting itself. It basically summarizes the big picture of the painting.

Visual Assignment

I still haven't decided which visual artwork I am going to do for the project that we have been assigned. I would like to do one of Dali's paintings, but there's just too many to choose from. I need to pick something that captures my attention right when i look at it. Otherwise, i think that i will have a hard time trying to figure out what to write about. If I enjoy the painting, then i believe that i will probably not have much difficulty writing 5 pages (double spaced) on it. I need something that has a lot of color in it. I don't want one of his religious paintings, or one with his wife in it. I wouldn't mind doing one of his surrealist paintings; I think that there are many different ways that one can go with surrealism in interpreting what is going on in the painting. I might pick one of the paintings above, but I'm still not quiet sure.

Semoitics and Art History

This article wasn't the most interesting thing that I have read. I thought it was really boring and I was really confused through out most of it. I believe the reason for this was because the audience that this article was intended for was more for people who enjoy art and are critics. The audience is expected to know a lot about what the author's talking about. The whole article is very factual, and it is not really approaching the audience. However, to make it easier for the readers the author has done several things. One is that there are titles for each of the sections. This way, the readers get a heads up as to what the section is going to be about. Another thing that the author does is give analogies and examples to help explain his message. There are also a lot of footnotes included in the article, for those who actually want to go and read them. One thing that I did learn from this article was about semoitics. Prior to reading this article, I had no clue what semoitics was, nor had I even heard of the word. But I came to know that semiotics is the study of signs; the study of language. So what does semiotics have to do with art? One has to look at the different aspects of a piece of artwork in order to find the symbols and representations of different objects to find hidden meanings in them.

Response

I would like to respond to how in the Berger essay, it described how the caption of a painting can make a differnce in the way a viewer views the painting. That is something that never really crossed my mind until I looked at the example of the two pictures in the essay. It made me realize how important titles of paintings really are. By just looking at the title, it can change the whole way a viewer interprets a painting. This all ties in with perspective and can be related to literature as well. In novels we have stories that are written in different perspectives, from a first person narrator to a third person narrator. And the story that is told is seen differently from whatever perspective you are in. Same with paintings, the way you look at a painting may depend on what perspective you are looking at it. At the High Museum, there was one painting of Dali that up close it just seemed like a bunch of dots, but if you moved further back you were able to see the face of a woman. Technology has enabled us to see in different perspectives. Yet, back in the day, artists were still able to create works from a different perspective without the aid of these modern technologies that we have today.

High Museum Visit

Even though I have lived in Atlanta for a while, I have never been to the High Museum, so when I went there a few days ago, I didn't really know what to expect. But as soon as I walked inside, I was really amazed. The first thing that I saw was the 3-D sculptures of the fruit on the main floor. They looked so real, but just a lot bigger. Then we went to see the Dali Exhibit, and I have to say that it was really amazing. I realized that from what we were discussing in class, that art is all about perspective. And Dali is definitely an artist who took perspective into thought. The way that he did some of his paintings just made it look as if it were 3-D. Not only did I see art in the High Museum, but also as Ashley and I were walking to the museum itself. We were going to take Marta, but then we just decided to walk it. And I have to say it was worth it, because it was a very scenic tour.

What is art?

Art is something that you see in everyday life, but there is more to that. In art, there is a message that is being delivered. But it depends on the individual as to what that message is that the artist is trying to convey. There are times where one person may perceive one thing and another person might perceive another. For example in the photo below, art is created from rocks into the shape of an eagle. What makes this art unique is the message it is conveying. To some people, it just may be an ordinary eagle, however there is also a cultural message depicted. This art contains designs and patterns. Yet it is also one’s perception of a culture or society. Art is an escape from society and is based on the creativity of the artist.