My Art Capacities

I enjoyed exploring my art capabilities. It was a nice way to reinforce confidence in things I feel I do well and  consider ways to become stronger in the areas I felt were weak. I marked mostly ones and twos on my page. However, I think that is because I am not prone to thinking in extremes and the wording "no evidence" is difficult for me as I think it is rare for a person to have shown absolutely NO evidence of something.

That being said, some of my weakest areas are exploring marking systems, embracing stillness, utilizing mistakes, and taking action, with taking action probably being my weakest. I am not sure that my understanding of this capability is how it was intended, but to me taking action simply means being brave about moving forward with an idea.  I feel like I can come up with ideas, but then I get nervous and freeze up when it comes time to take the leap into creating art. I worry about making mistakes or feel that I don't know how to create the vision I have in my head. In general, I have a hard time making decisions which can stall me. However, this semester I feel that I have gained a lot more confidence in this part of the art making process. I think in the future it can help me to make a few small samples in order to discover what works best for me. In my last concentration piece I  just jumped right in and let the ideas and product morph as I worked. I think that sometimes I just need to be brave and jump in. I need to be unafraid of making mistakes (this goes back to one of my other weaknesses). I think it might also be useful if I embrace art making activities that have unpredictable outcomes such as dying cloth or burning paper or staining something with foods.

Though there are certainly some areas that I need to work on there area also several areas in which I am very strong. My strongest art capacities are noticing deeply, connecting diverse disciplines, exhibiting empathy, and questioning. Of these I feel that my strongest is exhibiting empathy. This is something that has developed in me a lot over the last 5 years. I was not very empathetic when I was younger. Now I feel that I try to think of most situations from the point of view of others. I try to consider how my actions affect others. This is brought forth in some of my artwork having to do with social justice. However, I feel that this capacity will be most useful in my future teaching. Though sometimes I lack confidence in my art skills and worry about that affecting my teaching I feel assured that I will be a caring, supportive teacher and those qualities are more important in my opinion.

Studio Thinking Concentration #2

In this concentration piece I am butting the structured nature of science up against the ephemeral nature of consciousness as it relates to art, yoga, and meditation. It is interesting to me how something that is so intangible can affect the brain in a very concrete manner. Furthermore, the act of creating art is a way of making the intangible become more tangible. 

Please fell free to let me know any suggestions or comments you might have. 

Idea No. 89 Personal as Political

Bird describes "Personal is Political" art as a movement that rethinks the relationship between the individual and institutions of power. This art typically presents the message of marginalized groups. Bird specifically discusses the use of personal as political art in the feminist movement of the 1960's and 1970's. This art was not only a personal means of expression but was also used to generate meaning "with in a wider social system, social, political, linguistic..." Personal as Political art helped to bring women into the art world in a way that they never previously had been.

Though I understand Bird's explanation of this idea in art in terms of the political nature, however, I am not so clear on the "personal" part of it. Is he saying that it is personal because the feminist movement was important to the people who created the art? I am not sure that I am clear on the difference between this idea and the idea of protest art. In my blog on the idea of protest I discussed creating a message about gay rights. Since I am not gay does this mean it's not personal as political art, even though the issues concerning this topic are very important to me? I feel like this chapter should just be called the "Feminist Movement."

So in that vein of thought, I think that females have come a long way in the last 40 years. I do not feel ostracized as a female artist. I did feel like I was in the middle of a big boys club when I worked in advertising. I also think that in the fields of art criticism and art history females are still placed on the outskirts. I do not feel particularly compelled to create feminist art. I do have some interest in creating art about pregnancy and birth, but I would not have considered it with the intent of specifically advancing the view of female artists. I think just by being strong, confident and interesting artists females can continue the progression towards universal respect for all artists regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, etc.

Pen Tool Demo

Idea No. 79 Protest

Bird says that art as protest is one way of turning propaganda on its head. He cites Goya's The Third of May and Picasso's Guernica as examples of protest in art. I find both of these paintings to be very powerful. Clearly others feel this way since Guernica was covered at a press conference at United Nations meeting to discuss bombing Iraq. I think that covering the painting drew more attention to it and in a way strengthened its protest. It is clear that artists can have political and social influence. As the interaction between art and mass culture has increased so has the artistic influence in politics.

I love the idea of using protest in my artwork. I am strongly drawn to this idea. I find myself very frustrated by the lack of gay rights in our country, particularly marriage rights. This is something that is coming to the forefront in our society right now. I hope that I will be feeling more confident soon so that I feel prepared to take on a piece that communicates my views on this issue. I have a partial idea related to this that would involve a diorama/doll house that depicts a non traditional family. I think that major changes in society's view of homosexuality have taken place in our generation and I think that this change will be even more prevalent in the next generation, so a doll house seems like a particularly good way to present this idea. I have also considered replacing the people in old 1950's ads with new people to represent the vision of the new 21st century family. However, I am not sure if my intentions would be understood. I think this idea needs more development.

Idea No. 20 Icon

Bird begins this chapter by discussing icon in art as depictions of holy figures. Bird says that these painting began in early Christian times. Some people consider these paintings to carry part of the spirit of the figure that they depict and feel that they are capable of receiving prayers. Bird also discusses another use of the idea of icon in art as depictions of celebrities. This trend was popular amongst pop artists, notably Andy Warhol.

I think that the visual culture of our time has shifted, making seemingly insignificant elements immediately recognizable. People can pin point the font of certain companies or small fractions of a corporate logo. Saturation of advertising has made corporations into icons. I think that this is an interesting idea. Maybe I could use tiny snippets of corporate identities and other images to make a collage. I could also explore using text in my images that feeds off of these recognizable identities and their affiliated values. It might also be interesting to flip this idea on it head and create iconic looking portraits of everyday people. Maybe I could directly appropriate from old paintings of religious figures.

Idea No. 93 Body as Medium

Bird writes about how using the human body as medium communicates the human presence in art making. This is very evident in his examples of handprints in cave painting or human heads made of frozen blood. The artists' presence is brought to the forefront. Bird also discusses the body as a universal medium. It is at everyone's disposal and has been used across time and cultures. Towards the end of this chapter I think Bird is hinting at the dangers of crossing to line to the commodification of the human body.

I think what Bird says about the body as medium being traces of the artists is really fascinating. I don't plan on freezing my blood into the shape of a head anytime soon, but I think that the idea of the body as an imprint is neat. I think that fingerprints have a natural beauty and artistic style to them. I think it would be interesting to use the lines and repetitions in an abstract way. I am really interested in using things that are concrete and defined but in the form of abstract art, such as finger prints or topographical maps.

This chapter also remind me of a story that my husband told me a few days ago about a young girl, about six, that he saw playing out in the snow. She knelt down on the sidewalk next to a pile of snow and plunged her whole face into the snow and left her face buried for about 20 seconds and then popped up to survey her mark making. She then moved over about a foot and did the same thing. He said she repeated this the whole length of her yard. I was super excited by this story. It's so cool to see kids amazing innate desire to create. She was using her body as medium. This also made me think more about the idea of snow as recording human movements. I think that arial photographs of a park with snow would be cool. It would automatically map human activity.

Idea No. 40 Anatomy

Bird discusses anatomy as it relates to changes in art as the study of the human body in order to produce  convincing depictions of the human figure. He also specifically discusses art that shows literally what lies beneath the skin. Da Vinci made it a practice to spend time dissecting bodies in order to better understand anatomy and thus more accurately represent figures. Eventually following the lead of artists like Da Vinci the study of anatomy became part of academic art education.

As you will notice if you look back at my 50 Ideas List, I am very interested in science, specifically biology. Several of my ideas relate to science and the body, though not as literally as Bird describes. As I have mentioned, I spent several years working in a hospital. One of my duties involved spending time in OR rooms while surgeries were taking place. Where as this would be very disturbing to many people I was really intrigued by it. As Da Vinci suggested I loved being able to see what was inside. I think that the overlap between the human body and medical science is very interesting. My dad is a neurologist and I had an idea that involved using EEG (brain wave mapping) paper as a layer in my artwork. I think pen and watercolor on top of it could be really neat. There is some interesting research in how certain activities yoga, meditation, and art production change a person's brain waves. Art is the only activity that makes adult's brain waves exactly mimic the brain waves of a child at play. Meditation   produces a greater number of alpha waves (happy, relaxation waves).  However, they don't use actual paper anymore for EEGs, and I so far I haven't tracked any down. This could still be a really interesting area to explore.

While at the hospital, I also worked on the neo-natal intensive care floor and this further developed my interest in babies, pregnancy and birth. I think a series on pregnancy or giving birth might be interesting. Check out these super cool in-utero animal pictures from National Geographic. They're really beautiful. I think the pink glow and the veins and the lines are incredible.

Overall, though I was just doing it to make money, my experience at the hospital developed a lot more compassion with in me. This is something I hope to be able to instill in my students. 

Idea No. 9 Body as Surface

Honestly, I found this to be a kind of strange chapter. It discusses the use of one's body as art trough alterations such as cutting, tattooing and painting. I found it unusual that piercing and other forms of permanent jewelry we not mentioned here. Bird discusses how the body has been used as art to draw attention to issues such as sexuality and gender. I think that he makes an interesting point when he says as body images have become more common in mass media the human body as become a "highly politicized surface for art." He also discusses how tattoos have been used both as decoration and to signify status with in society.

I used to work a side job as an event planner for Indian weddings. As part of the job I wore a Sari and had my hands  painted with henna. I found this practice to be a really beautiful and amazing type of ceremonial use of the body as surface. While I am open to these types of non-permanent alterations to my body I really don't agree with the ideas of tattoos or piercings or any permanent alteration of the body. I do not consider myself to be a conservative person in the least, however, to me, permanent alterations to the body are disrespectful to our bodies. I do not feel right permanently altering my body because I feel as though it would not be fully accepting my body as it is. For this reason (and some others) I do not even have my ears pierced. Just to be clear, I do not judge anyone else who does have tattoos or piercings. I understand that they simply don't see this issue the same way that I do. 

Though this concept of body as surface is not one that immediately appeals to me I could possibly see myself using this idea in photographs of ceremonial aspects of body as surface. I do think that ceremonial body painting can be really beautiful and it communicates a lot about a culture. Overall, I find elaborate cultural and religious ceremonies to be really interesting. 

At music festivals I have seen naked people (usually women) who have painted their bodies in spectacular designs. While I think that this communicates something about females encouraging a sexually directed gaze I also think it can be a really interesting way to adorn the body. While I would never participate in this I think it is an intriguing use of the body as surface. 

Overall, I don't think this will be the most fruitful idea with in my own art, but it is good to think about the canvas in a different way. 

Concentration # 1

The big idea behind my series that I am working on is confidence. I want to gain confidence and experience as an artist and in a variety of different medias. My series is a media exploration of the look of confidence.

I am really open to tips and help. I am counting on you guys to help me learn how to use the materials better. I have another one that is watercolor, but I think I am going to take another shot at it. Let me know what you guys think.

Hyatt, Colored pencil

Shalonda, Charcoal

Lauren, Oil Pastels

Yun, Pen

Idea No. 50 Whiteness

The use of whiteness has come in and out of vogue in art over time. Whiteness is strongly associated with Baroque marble sculpture and ancient Greek art. In part due to its role in art, many people associate white with spirituality, purity, and idealism. The avant-garde used color in direct opposition to the perceived hypocrisies of "academic" art. In the 1920's and 30's the use of white was popular in geometric abstraction and architecture.

I tend to be drawn to using bright, high contrast colors in my work. However, this might make me  more conscious of how I place white near other colors in order to draw attention or move the viewers eye in my future work. White can be used to increase contrast next to more saturated colors. On the other end of the spectrum, I really like how Whistler uses subtle variations of white in his painting. It draws the viewer to explore how there are is always some color even when it appears to be all white. The subtle colors within the white make it really rich and beautiful. This chapter also reminded me of how Kenzie discussed the use of the whiteness of the paper in her watercolor demonstration last Friday. She explained how she uses the white of the paper to create tints in her painting. In this way the white is used not only to create light colors, but can also to show where light is present in the image. I haven't really explored watercolors much since I was young, but I can't wait to try Kenzie's techniques that she showed us.

Idea No. 80 Documentary

I was in some ways confused by Bird's synthesis of documentary. While he said that it is an unbiased chronicle of events he also seemed to suggest that it is frequently strongly influenced by biases of the artist. I think that it is impossible for it to be unbiased, especially in a strongly commercialized society. Bird describes how documentary art grew from the need to record scientific findings such as new plants   or insects. He says that later documentary turned to photography and film, which is the art form that we most commonly associate with documentary today. Documentary reveals underlying themes of interest beyond just what is seen,

I really enjoy photography and I would like to use it more in more work. I took a photojournalism class in my undergraduate work and I really liked it. I worked for the Red Cross for a while and in addition to being a designer I was a "disaster photographer." So I would go take documentary photos of destruction and people being helped by the Red Cross when a large apartment building burned down and when bad storms hit (obviously not unbiased).   It became interesting to me how drawn to tragedy people can be. However, I also have an acquaintance who has been working on a long term photo documentary project called "Chicago Stories" where he photographs everyday lives of Chicagoans. His photos of people going about their lives can be so intriguing and it ties into my idea from my list of "spying on people". Documentary is a much nicer way of saying it:) I have another idea that involves documentary. I think it would be neat to take a picture of something everyday for 365 days (I know this idea has been done, but it can still be new). I originally really wanted to do this with Lake Michigan (I used to live and work on the Lakefront). It looks so drastically different day to day, and even moment to moment, calm, crowded, relaxing, violent, icy. I don't mean to sound like a total snob, but I think it's hard to understand unless you see it everyday. However, I can't think of anything in Coumbia that speaks to me the same way that Lake Michiagn did. In short, capturing change over time is an interesting way to use documentary photography in my opinion.

In some ways all art is documenting, not unbiasedly, but it is a way of freezing time, thoughts, and events and presenting them to others.

Speaking of freezing...I love this surprisingly beautiful documentary photography of a warehouse fire a couple of weeks ago in Chicago.

Idea No. 72 Satire

Satirical art criticizes individuals or society by being "savagely observant" as Bird puts it. Satire usually has a heavily partisan emphasis about whatever subject matter it is taking on. It is also usually harshly judgmental and often intended to be comical.

Though I do enjoy some satire like Stephen Colbert (I am not nearly as dedicated of a fan as Kathy) other times I think that it can be overly judgmental. Bird gives Hanson's Supermarket Shopper as an example of satire. To me this piece seems really mean. I don't think we should laugh at and make fun of people that are different from us and have different values, which it seems like Hanson's piece is doing.

In my own work I think I could find ways to use satire appropriately. When satire is aimed at political situations and used to address social justice issues I think that it can be particularly poignant. I had previously discussed using satire in a social justice piece relating to "the new norm" of family structures. I think that simply swapping out people into situations that you wouldn't expect and juxtaposing 1950's family imagery could create interesting satirical pieces. I recently had been thinking about creating these scenes  through doll houses and paper dolls. I think that this also has an interesting link to how we teach children these values and views of the world very early on in life and through seemingly harmless avenues like cartoons, dolls, and books. I think that I am strongly drawn to this idea, but I am unsure if I have the technical skills to succeed in this type of artistic undertaking.

Idea No. 77 Expressing Inner States

Bird's discussion of "Expressing Inner States" begins by saying that art has been used to bring the unseen to light. He uses the example of religious art, such as, the face of Jesus or Buddah. He says that artists took on a new role of putting an image to what the public could not see for themselves. Painters also used the idea of expressing inner states in a more personal way. Similar to how Bird presented the unconscious he says that artists like Kandinsky were using their art to communicate inner desires. Later this developed into more of a reflection of the artist's life and experiences or society, like the work of Chagall.

I love the work of Chagall and I love the idea of looking at how my life fits with in society. I think that exploring these types of ideas and being aware of one's place or impact on the world can be very reflective and reaffirming. This type of reflection can also lead us to finding direction and setting goals. I think these ideas could be the basis for an interesting lesson plan for high school students.

Idea No. 66 Unconcious

Many of the ideas behind art as it relates to the unconscious come from the writings of Sigmund Freud. He advanced that there are hidden regions of the mind called the unconscious and dreams are manifestations of our unconscious thoughts and desires. As the work of Freud became more popular and well know some artists purposed a theory that confronting one's unconscious desires could lead to enlightenment and cure societies problems. These ideas fueled artists such as Dali and Picaso and resulted in much of the dream like like imagery contained in their work.

Though I do not currenty plan to explore any dreamlike ideas in my work I think that the unconscious certainly influences my work in other less direct ways. The way I was raised and experiences that I had as a child can't help but influence my artistic interests and what I choose to explore in my artwork. I have a fascination with personal history and memories. I feel that childhood memories often feel a bit like dreams, in that things have become distorted by time. I would guess that according to Freud the unconscious can't help but affect my artwork.

Idea No. 68 Multiple Viewpoints

Michael Bird says that the idea of multiple viewpoints was advanced in the early twentieth century by artists such as Pablo Picaso who broke down linear perspective and did away with fixed spatial relationships. Photography strategies like double exposures made people realize that seeing is not usually like a single view through a window, but rather involves movement and seeing from multiple viewpoints. Artists began to play with how we see and make sense of scenes. Cubist paintings developed simultaneous multiple viewpoints.

The multiple viewpoint work of David Hockney is something that I would like to look into further. The idea of looking at things from multiple viewpoints both figuratively and literally intrigues me. There is always more than one side to a story or idea. I think that Hockney's Celia's Children, is a really visually interesting way of saying this. In what ways could I make this style my own? I think that collage would also be a fascinating way to show this type of fragmentation. Maybe I could explore photo collage rather than a more traditional idea of collage.

Introduction...Oppsie:)

I somehow totally missed the blog post assignment from the first day of class. So here it is. Better late than never:/

This cheeserific image really does represent me and where I am in my "artistic journey." My art background is pretty different from a lot of the other members of this class, in that I have a lot less studio experience. You have probably already figured out that I am a little self conscience about this. I took two years of photography in high school and loved it. However, I graduated in 2001 (which feels like 100 years ago) and I barely remember most of it. Since high school I continued photography as a casual hobby off and on. I got my undergraduate degree in advertising. The program I was in did not emphasize the design part of it too much. I took 2-D and 3-D design and a few art history classes. The advertising program I was in really focused on concepts. I never took a single graphic design class. I taught myself the adobe programs, to at least a functional level. I worked for several years as an art director or designer. I eventually got so sick of looking at computer screens and taking direction from clients that I thought I might snap. When I left advertising I worked for a few years as a pharmacy technician in a hospital in downtown Chicago (because I had an in to get me the job), while trying to find my passion. I eventually decided I wanted to teach, and Kathy convinced me that MU art ed was the place for me. (My first choice had originally been the University of Oregon and in the end I didn't even apply there...only Mizzou). 

So short story long, now I am doing a bunch of post-bac work while getting my Masters. So far I have taken Intro Fibers, Drawing 1, and am currently in Drawing 2. This image is from my Drawing 1 class. I didn't think I could draw and I was really happy with how well this came out. However, I HATED this assignment. I was forced to painstakingly work on a gridded, realistic drawing of my giant face that had no meaning to me. It really drove home the point about providing rich art making opportunities that allow for personal meaning making. So I don't know my process, content or medium yet. On one side I have struggled with my decision to take this class now because I wonder if  I should have more studio experience first, but on the other hand I think having this class first might prepare me to make the most of my future studio classes. I hope the latter is true. 

Idea List Continued

28. The things we carry- what the objects in our pockets say about us, society. What stories do they tell? Pockets and purses as portraits
29. Food - attitudes towards food - Healthy and unhealthy relationships
30. Gender roles- the way and why we teach these to kids
31. Different ideas of heaven - no heaven, dog heaven, clouds, people, only God, What do others think it looks like - how different religions depict heaven
32. unconditional love
33. self confidence
34. chronic physical pain - how would pain look - what you imagine doing to remove it
35. escaping stress
36. longing - missing - goodbyes
37. birth and pregnancy
38. water - sources - uses
39. Knowledge and memory - what would it look like inside our brain - how we store it
40. intense memories - moments where every second and every sense seems burned into your brain
41. personification of inanimate objects
42. family heirlooms - passing down precious things
43. alcoholism and drug abuse
44. social anxiety
45. scent affecting memories
46. time - how it seems to speed up and slow down
47. Separation - distance
48. Reciprocal counter positions
49. returning home
50. Protection
51. Adrenaline
52. Life through another persons eyes
53. Spying on people

Idea No. 7 Narrative & Idea No. 53 Authenticity

Idea No. 7 Narrative

Our book presents the idea of narrative as stories embedded in art that communicate and message or value. It shows examples of telling stories of roman battles and biblical painting. Bird explains that sometimes storytelling in art is sequential and sometimes artists choose to present events out of order, however the viewer is still able to understands the meaning of the story. 

I take storytelling in art to be a bit more general of an idea. In fact, I think that any art in which the viewer is interpreting a meaning is a form of narrative. After all, this art communicates a message and value just as Bird suggested. People are inundated with so much visual material through art, movies, commercials, etc. These images all become part of our collective visual understanding and can be used in art to make quick associations and almost instantly communicate a story to the viewer. Banksy's work is a great example of this. 

Banksy image on West Bank barrier wall, Israel-Palestine.

Even when messages or narratives are very quickly understood we can see a story in the many layers of meaning created in a piece of art. I have been thinking about using 1950's advertisements in my artwork. Even just a reproduction of the style, poses and colors of 1950's ads are recognized by viewers and can quickly communicate a message about family values and a shift in society. 

Idea No. 53 Authenticity

Bird's description of authenticity in art was not what I was expecting. He discusses authenticity in terms of monetary value based on the the artist's reputation. When Raphael's Modonna of the Pinks was determined to be the real thing rather than a copy it's value increased enormously. Once again, Banksy's work actually serves as another interesting inspection of this idea. I would argue that Banksy's work is considered to be more valuable because it can not be authenticated. The mystic that Banksy has created surrounding his work is part of the appeal and therefore increases the value. Like Piero Manzoni's Artist's Shit Banksy pokes fun at the marketing of art. 

Though I find the marketing of art and the circumstances surrounding art authenticity to be interesting, I am really not sure how authenticity will personally affect my artwork. I appreciate the tongue-in-cheek way that some artists address these issue. Maybe someday my art will be worth millions of dollars and it will become a theme in my artwork. ;)

Idea No.95 Globalization

Michael Bird expresses the idea of globalization very well when he says that globalization is a blurring of the boundaries of the nations of the world. Globalization is a process of intermixing and interchanging ideas from different cultures. Bird says that art is..."the tangible form of the globalization process."

Globalization is an interesting topic in that it involves the blurring of these socially and politically constructed boundaries and continually increases with the spread of technology. The world seems to be getting smaller and smaller yet this blending and blurring it is wonderfully asymptotic in that they will never completely blur. Cultures will always maintain their own distinct identities. 

In my own work I have explored Native American culture a little. I think it would be interesting to look at how Native American art has been affected by outside cultures. What are the similarities and differences between how Native American art has been affected and how other American art has been affected by globalization? When is globalization resisted and when is it embraced? Is it embraced more by a younger generation? I think so.