Self Portrait

1.  Online I visited The Art Institute of Chicago.  I found several self-portraits there and selected three that especially inspired or intrigued me.  I chose "Self Portrait Drawing at a Window" by Rembrandt, 1648, because I loved the attention to detail and shading that gave a 3D effect to the work.  The second selection was "Self-Portrait" by Van Gogh, 1887.  This inspired me due to the use of color and specific hues combined to create the work.  Finally, I chose "Self Portrait in a Fur Cap" by Joseph Wright of Derby, 1765/68, because of the smoothness, texture, and real-life quality of the work.  

2.  The media I chose to create my self portrait was digital/computer.  I used a game program called The Sims to create not only a facial representation of myself, but also a full body, wardrobe, and characteristics/traits.  I was inspired by Rembrandt's 3D effect, Van Gogh's use of color, and Wright's texture and smoothness, but decided to do something a little different and represent these aspects in digital form.

3.  It was VERY hard to get the Sim to look like me.  In the program I used, you are given a set of heads, eyes, ears, bodies, hair, etc. to choose from.  You can then go into depth and tweak minor details of the body part selected afterward.  For example, if I selected a certain mouth, I can go into the program and tweak the depth, width, thickness, shape, scale, curve, color, etc. of the mouth.  Another challenge was accepting that a computer generated person was NOT going to look 100% or even 90% like me.  However, I made it work by looking at a picture of myself while tweaking the Sim's facial parts and making sure the the eyes, mouth, ears, nose, cheekbones, jaw, etc. were all shaped as closely as possible to mine.

4.  I think the piece represents me because it has an impish smile like mine (I've been told), bright blue eyes, makeup the way I do mine, hair the same color as mine, etc.  I was even able to give the Sim traits like mine such as family-oriented, musical, good sense of humor, etc.  

5.  I used a lot of contoured lines in this work.  I had to tweak the cheekbones, jawline, eyelids, mouth curve, etc. using contoured lines.  I also applied color to the work, combine different hues to make up the skintone, eyes, clothing, makeup, etc.  The work itself has movement because the Sim can literally move.

6.  I loved working on this project because I had fun interpreting it in a non-literal fashion.  I considered painting or sketching with charcoal, but wanted to challenge myself to think out-of-the-box a little and create something more modern.

7.  I believe that my final artwork is a great representation of myself.  It may not look exactly like me, but I feel that it exemplifies who I am as a person, and looks somewhat like myself.

Art Criticism

1. Which projects did you review?

 I reviewed all of the class' projects in order to make an informed decision about which project I wanted to work with.  I viewed Jennifer Jeffers' "Seeing People in Many Art Forms," "The Depths of the Imagination: Surrealism Through the Ages" by Natalie Korchowsky, and "Anthropology in Art" by Sheldon Anderson. 






2. Why did you select the Exhibit you critiqued?


I selected "Seeing People in Many Art Forms" because I found myself really drawn to the artworks included i the exhibit.  I loved the abstract representations off the human form, and thought that I would like to have some of the works displayed in my own home.  I also enjoyed the use of color among the works.

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

I always have a hard time with bracketing.  It was hard for me to draw references and similarities between the works and the outside world.  Also, I found it hard to add the critique into the article because I did not wish to offend the "curator."  I overcame both of these issues by researching for bracketing and carefully phrasing my critique.

4. How do you feel about critiquing your peers work?

As I mentioned before, I feel bad when critiquing my peers' work.  I never want to cut someone down or say something that would offend.  I know how hard I worked on my project, and how hard they must have worked on theirs, so I feel awkward critiquing it. 

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

I would love to read the critique from my peers' because I believe that constructive criticism helps you to move forward and improve.

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


I would rate my finished article a 9 because there is always room for improvement.

7. Did you enjoy working on this project?

I enjoyed working on this project because I really liked to see how my peers interpreted the assignment and constructed their projects.

Mod 15 Video Review

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

The video Greenberg on Pollock taught me that Pollock wanted to paint movable pictures that would move between the easel and the mural; something that was new to the time.  Pollock began focusing on moving toward the edges and corners of the canvas rather than just focusing on the middle.  Beginning with this, Pollock began to move away from the concepts of containment and order.  Greenberg believes that some of Pollock’s paintings failed because they failed to appeal to the eye.  He believes that the only demand on art is for it to be good.   Contemporaries and the public never saw Pollock’s works as paintings, but more of a step in between.  This made him notorious rather than famous.

The video Greenberg on Art Criticism taught me that Greenberg believes that abstract art has been the best kind of art over the last few decades.  He believes that this was spurred by a huge “culture boo” that occurred after WWII.  Greenberg also believes that there’s a crisis of taste amongst people, and has been since Van Gogh.  Greenberg believes that good art critics, like the ones of the past, simply know value when they see it and have good intuition and judgment; an eye for aesthetics.  Greenberg thinks that one, individual artist proves themselves in a movement, but a whole, global movement does not prove itself.          

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

Both videos relate to the creation of my Art Criticism project because both are interviews featuring an art critic.  Greenberg delves into what his beliefs are about art criticism in both videos.  He repeatedly references the importance of aesthetics, and that the only demand on art is for it to be good and aesthetically pleasing.  Both videos help me to understand Greenberg’s own philosophies regarding criticism and allow me to see how he conducted his reviews.

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

I believe that these films added depth to my understanding of art criticism because they reinforced my idea that criticism sometimes has to rely on intuition.  Criticism needs to look at if the work is aesthetically pleasing and forget all of the political ideals behind it. 

Art Exhibition: Elemental Photography

I created an exhibit that consisted completely of nature photography.  It was a hard decision for me to solely include photographs and no other form of media because I love art of all styles.  However, photography is my one, true art-love and I believed that it deserved to be showcased.  I enjoy nature photography, so I decided to make my exhibit with the theme of photographs of the elements: earth, water, fire, air, and combined elements.  Therefore, my exhibit showcased 5 different galleries, with four artworks in each gallery. 
Choosing what photographs to include, and where from, was the hardest part of this project.  In the end however, I decided to go with photographs entirely from National Geographic's website.  These photos included pictures that were in the magazine, online photo contests, and travel photos from professionals and amateurs alike.  After taking a look at the NatGeo site, I made the executive decision that I would only use pictures from that site because they were too beautiful and numerous to branch out. 
Selecting the images took a few days, about 2 hour sessions each time, to decide what to include.  Even on the day of submitting the project, I was still swapping out and exchanging a few photographs.  However, this was an extremely fun process that I enjoyed immensely.  Putting the PowerPoint together was also fun because I got to play with the fonts and select my own backgrounds and layout for the exhibit.  I decided to break the PP up into the 5 sections, and have each section colo-coded to match the element that was being exhibited.  For example all Earth description slides would be green, water blue, fire red-orange, and air grey-white.  The photograph would come first with title, author, date, and site; and next a description slide with my interpretation and description of the artwork.
Overall creating this project was time-consuming, but really fun!