The sculpture that I want to discuss is Brancusi’s “Torso”. At first glance I had absolutely no idea what this piece could have represented, but after reading its title my mind was flooded with new ideas. When I read “Torso” my first thought was that it represented strength. When I think of the human torso I think of it as our center, the core that holds us together and controls our every movement. A strong torso leads to a strong body and when you have a weak core the rest of your body is weakened. In class some people expressed the idea of sexuality in the piece, I can see where that comes from, but for me it is hard to ignore my first thought of strength. The shape of this sculpture is bold in its simplicity and represents a sort of power that would have been lost if an entire figure was sculpted. If Brancusi had sculpted an entire figure the interpretations could have been endless, but by losing the rest of the body he had more control over what people could interpret. The shape of the torso is slanted and cut off at the top where the breast would have been. This dramatic line cuts in a way that we cannot tell whether or not the sculpture is male or female. By leaving the gender anonymous it leaves room for the viewer to apply the meaning of the sculpture to themselves. The bottom of the piece cuts off at the thigh. Having the thigh cut off made the center of my attention go to stomach and that is where I got my ideas of a strong and powerful core. For some, this cut off made the focus on the groin area creating an idea of sexuality. I think that by having such an uncomplicated, physical structure it allows for a more personalized reaction to the sculpture. When people look at art they see what they want to see and having such a simple and bold piece it makes people think harder about how the work relates to them personally. At second glance, I realized that this sculpture is not all about strength and power. When I focused on the materials I noticed that it was constructed out of a beautiful softly colored, brown wood. If this sculpture was purely about strength it could have been constructed out of a stronger material such as metal. The choice of wood, however, creates a sort of softness that I found to be secondary to the power. Wood is vulnerable and soft which contrasts with the bold shape of the sculpture. When I started to think about the sculpture as a whole, including the materials, my interpretation became clearer. At first glance the sculpture represented pure power and force, but when you look deeper you can see the soft wood and the smooth surface. It make me think of looking at a person, at first all you see is the strong outside, but when you look deeper you can see who someone really is and get to know their weaknesses. The overall knowledge I gained from this piece is that you always have to look deeper than what your first glance shows you.
Kelly - A good job interpreting some of the expressive elements at play in the artwork but push harder for the conceptual overview that is implied from your observations. You make a great start by proposing that abstraction can 'allows for a more personalized reaction'. But this needs more development, what for instance is the downside? You hint at the audience needing to 'work harder', what are the implications of this?
Two. This was my first experience drawing from a live model and one of the few times I have experimented drawing the human figure. I had a lot of difficulty at first because I never had to think about the figure abstractly before. Usually, when I look at a human figure I look at it and see a head, arms, and legs; but this class forced me to look at the figure differently than I ever have before. I had to see the body as a set of lines or shapes. Our first task was to draw only using straight lines, which was really difficult for me at first because I could not make my figures look any better than a second grader’s stick figure. After a few poses I was better able to look at the model and see the lines that his body was making instead of seeing the shape as a whole. With practice I was able to create a set of lines that described the model’s pose instead of lines that looked like a stick figure. Our next challenge was to draw the figure using shapes. This was my favorite part of the class because it is interesting that with each pose the shape is completely different. I think that my shape drawings were my most successful because I was really able to look at the figure and decide what shape each part of the body looked like. The drawings I did during this time were very simplified, but still managed to look like figures. Once we had the limitation of only using four shapes the representations became more difficult for me. I see the main parts of the figure as the head, two arms, torso, and two legs; this adds up to six main shapes. It was really hard for me to decide which parts to combine into one shape or which parts to exclude. After a few poses I started to think back to some of my line drawings where maybe the torso and the left leg created one straight line and then I translated this idea into creating one shape for each straight line. Each activity we did during class gave me a better understanding of the figure. We started out very simply drawing the bare minimum and then we gradually worked our way up to understanding every shape and line within a pose. By having a structured class like this it forces you to think abstractly about the figure and really practice different ideas or techniques. While working with the second model we did more collages and sculpting with wires. The very beginning of the class was difficult for me because I had no idea what to do with the wire. After some getting used to the wire and how I could shape it my work became more abstract instead of looking like stick figures. My work also seemed to get better when we had to make the figures somewhat three dimensional. Today and last week I noticed that I always have problems in the beginning while I am still figuring out how to work the materials and see the shapes. But, as the class goes on I get more used to the face pace and my work becomes better. I also enjoy taking a break to look at everyone else’s work because it gives me ideas on things I could do differently and shows me different points of view. Overall from these two days I learned that my ideas get better with time and practice makes perfect, so I will definitely take my time on my sculptures to make them as good as they can be.
Three. At first I had a hard time trying to think of what exactly I wanted to do for my models. To start off I choose my three favorite sketches, which all happened to be of the male model, and then I thought about materials. I started with my favorite sketch and started off by doing the pose in wire only. The shape of the wire was too simple by itself and after looking at it I knew it needed something more. I then traced the major shapes of wire and cut out matching cardboard pieces. To create a more three dimensional shape I glued the cardboard pieces inside the wire, but at an opposite angle. This ended up being my favorite sculpture because it has bold lines, good proportions, and simple shapes. I also like it because there are a lot of improvements I can make to it. Five specific improvements that I want to make to this model are: 1. Work to make my wires more smooth and sleek 2. Possibly add more detail to the cutouts, but without making it too cluttered 3. Figure out a way to keep the sculpture free standing 4. Possibly add something to the back to make it more viewable from all angles and 5. Make it a little bit bigger. With the second model I made I wanted to try and use only wire and see how that would work out. This model was the smallest I made because it was very simple and straight forward. I liked this one because all of the wire shapes were ovals and it showed some simplistic consistency. The main reason why I did not choose this model to make my sculpture was that it was almost too simple. There wouldn’t have been very many improvements or additions that I could have made to it. Although I really like simplicity, I also like models that are more abstract. This model was clearly a figure, so it appeared less interesting than other models. With my third model I used mostly cardboard because I was cutting out very bold and sharp shapes. I chose the sketch for this one because my sketch had all squares and rectangular shapes which was different than the circle and ovals I had used in my previous two models. This third model was also much bigger than the other two because it was by far the strongest pose. I liked this model because you could immediately look at it and think strong, big, bold, and assertive. But, once again, I did not like it as much as the first because of its clear resemblance of the figure. I also had a problem with it because I couldn’t think of a very good way to make it more three dimensional and viewable from all angles. I am happy with my choice of model number one because it has all of the qualities that I wanted it to have: it’s a simple representation of the figure but it is still bold and interesting. Hopefully I will be able to create a sculpture that is able to stand on its own and be able to smooth out my wires. If I can accomplish those two goals I think my final sculpture with be a real improvement from the model.
A good list of what needs improving- good job. Don't get behind on these entries )blog #4?) because they are timed to what you are doing in the studio.
Four. When first beginning my sculpture I was obsessed with trying to change everything in my model to make the whole thing better. This approach was not working because many aspects of my model were fine as they were and I was making it worse trying to change it. I thought that there should be a lot of visual, bold changes in my sculpture to make it an improvement from my model. Having this attitude in the beginning was very frustrating because none of my experimentation seemed to be working. For example I had thought I wanted my sculpture to be bigger than my model, but after multiple attempts I realized that my model was a good size. Once I realized that little changes could make the same impact as big changes my work ethic became more stable and I was no longer frustrated. My initial design did not take into account the difficulty of having a freestanding sculpture. I had to be very experimental when deciding how to hold my sculpture together. I had originally wanted my sculpture to be seamless, but that was very impossible with the way I was using the materials. It took a long time and a good about of jigging, but I finally had a solution to my problem. I had very limited patience during these hours of work, but I was really proud that my sculpture was actually standing and the foam was in its place at the proper angle. Overall, I think the little changes I made from my model to my sculpture were well worth the effort and amount of time I spent on this project. Of course, it could always be better and smoother, but with the time frame I think I have a decent attitude about my final piece.
Five. What I like most about my sculpture and what I dislike about it is the same thing, the construction. I am very proud that I found creative ways to hold all of the wire and gator foam pieces where they needed to be, but I wish that I could have accomplished this in a more seamless way. When first beginning my piece, I focused a lot of time into created very smooth and bold wire shapes. The problem was that during the rest of my construction, these shapes cut bent and curvier than I would have liked and it became increasingly harder to adjust the wire without messing something else up. While trying to put the foam pieces within the wire shapes I had to make the decision of what was more important, having smooth wires or having the right angle of the foam. I decided that I really wanted the foam pieces to have a certain angle within the wires, so this decision made the smoothness of the wire secondary to the importance of the angles. Because I wanted these angles to be perfect I had to come up with a few very complicated jigs to hold the sculpture steady while the glue was drying. While doing this I had to be very creative and flexible in trying to figure out how to stabilize my piece without damaging the wire too much. Although you cannot see the jigs now, I think building them was one of my positives in the sculpture. Besides the structural accomplishments, my favorite part of this sculpture was the way it seemed almost three dimensional even though every part of it was planar. A few people also mentioned this during the critique that the angles of the foam helped create volume where it didn’t exist before. Hearing these comments from my classmates made me glad that I had made the decision to perfect these angles in my construction. Many of the comments in the critique reinforced some of the decisions I had chosen during construction and it made me feel better that I had made the right choices. I also enjoyed the simplicity of my sculpture and the idea that these very basic shapes could create a figure. I decided to paint the sculpture, foam and wire, all black to help keep it simple. I really liked that painting it all one color made it more graphic. But, after painting it all black I really wanted to add a little bit of color without ruining the simplicity, so I choose to paint the edges of the foam blue. I loved the blue edges because it was a very subtle color change, but it also gave the edges a glossy look that made them stand out more. During the critique someone brought up that I should have also painted the base’s edges blue as well and I totally agree that I should have done that. I don’t think I noticed that while I was painting because I was seeing the base as a separate part when really in should have been a part of the sculpture and also had the blue edges. Overall, I think the critique was very insightful and made me look at aspects of my sculpture from a different point of view. It was also very frustrating though because all I want to do now is go back and fix everything that people commented on, so that it would be better.
Lecture Blog One. Museum Studies Lecture “Pets in America: There History and why it Matters”
The first fact given in this lecture was that 63 percent of household have at least one pet. That is a lot of people who have pets and in our culture it shows that pets are obviously important. The woman who was giving this talk had been researching pets through history and I found it very interesting that much of her evidence was pictures and paintings from the past. She used these pictures as proof of statements she would make about pets in that time period. During the lecture there were multiple definitions given for “pet”. The first was a pet as a companion and her evidence of this was a post card with a photograph of a young boy and his dog. The second was a pet as a hobby or leisure and this was shown by a book on how to keep aquariums. The third definition was a pet as a status symbol and her evidence for this was a poster with drawings for a dog show. The fourth definition was pets as living art (“fancy” pets) and this was shown by an artistic photograph of pigeons. The final definition of a pet was a symbol of community and this was shown by a photograph of the post office’s mascot, which was a dog. I found it very interesting how much this woman’s knowledge of pets in the past relied on pictures and photographs. You could even say that sculpture played an important role in her studies, that is if you consider a dead, stuffed dog sculpture. At one point in the lecture she said that the sources she used documented practices and attitudes towards pets. I thought it was really fascinating that by looking at one painting, you could tell how pets were viewed during that time period. There was one example of a painting of two children and their dog. The lecturer than began analyzing the painting as a way to explain the feelings toward the dog. She pointed out that the dogs head was level with the children’s’ heads and stated that it meant the dog was equal to the children as a part of the family. There was also a rope the each girl held that was attached to the dogs collar, which she said suggested and continuity between the three. Some of the forms of art she used as evidence were: photographs, paintings, drawings, trade cards, books, diaries, and post cards. At the beginning of this lecture I was unclear how I would relate the information to art for this reflection, but as I began to focus on all of the evidence I realized that it was all art. It really showed me how much of an influence art has on how we perceive history.
You say you could find the ways to improve the sculpture...maybe you need to go a bit farther by actually try doing an entire 'variation on a theme' second model. One that re-looked at the specific shapes the foam board and wire made? There are a hundred sculptures that follow the basic idea contained within your model. Sometimes if you don't go far enough with the idea of variation, very small shifts do undermine the unity of a design. In the same vein, I think you could go much farther self-assessing your work, why not be more critical? it can't hurt.
The theme or idea for my first models was mermaids and water. My first model was more of a sketch because it was very flat and only one sided. I found it very helpful to do this three dimensional sketch because looking at it gave me more ideas for my two models. I thought that my three dimensional sketch had the best outlining shape and represented my idea of a mermaid the best. Because it was a flat and full cutout you could see that there were not two separate legs which added to the mermaid form. It was also brought up in the critique that my wire swirls were the best in the first sketch because they were very fluid, like water, which also went very well with my original theme. After making my first model I wanted to explore what I could do to make the sculpture more viewable for all sides. The second model I did had cardboard cutouts on either side with swirly wire shapes in between. The cardboard shapes in this second model were not nearly as good as the shape of my first model. I also disliked how the wire came straight up from the base and made it look less like a mermaid because it then looked like the sculpture had two legs. To solve this problem, in my next model, I plan to have a full card board bottom that opens up in the stomach area for my wire shapes. I had also made hair out of wire and attached it to the head to add to the mermaid theme, but after the critique I think it might be a better idea to used cooper strips for the hair instead of the very stiff wire. With my third model I wanted to play around with negative space, so I cut out my shape and then used the leftover ends of cardboard and put my wire shapes in the middle. The problems with this model were similar to the second. I did not like how the wire attached to the base made the model look like it had two legs and the cardboard shapes were not very strong. What I did like about the third model were the wire shapes and how they were still swirls like water, but also represented parts of a woman’s body. In my next model I definitely want to experiment more with the wire shapes and find a better way for them to look like flowing water, but still be representation of body parts.
Seven. Schedule: 10/22- Cut out and sand main wood piece 10/26- Shape wire and braze together 10/29- Finish accenting wood shapes Cut sheet metal for hair Braze hair and wire Paint wire shape 11/2- Paint wood shapes and base 10/4- Assemble whole sculpture 10/5- Finishing touches
Lecture Blog Two Travel Tales: My trip to Southern India
Before this lecture I had never really seen or known many things about India. In the beginning of your presentation you began by showing us a map and explaining each main area that you visited. You started in Chennai, which you explained was along the coast, and then went to Tamil Nadu which was referred to as the “bread basket of India”, then you went through the mountains, and then back to a watery coast. I had never realized that India had so many places with different types of geography. I thought it was very interesting that you could go from one coast to the other and see everything in between from the mountains to the fields. I specifically remember the picture you showed from the mountain area and how green the grass looked in contrast with all of the rocks. Before this lecture I also I had no idea how populated some of the cities in India could be. I had always thought of India as just a country where most people farm and live very modestly in the countryside, but after this presentation I have realized that a big part of India is its cities. When you showed us the pictures of the cities I was amazed at how crowded they were and how one would even be able to walk around. At one point of the presentation you mentioned that the cities of India definitely aren’t for everyone…I think I would much rather like the calmer, scenic, countryside. It was very interesting to look at your pictures and see the extreme differences from the city to the country. You referred to India as a “country of extreme contrast”, which I can now understand why. The pictures of the city were full of people and booming life and the pictures of the countryside showed modest houses and farms. It was also shocking to me when you mentioned that at certain times of the day the energy had to be turned off because there just wasn’t enough to last everyone the whole day. The pictures you showed during your presentation were amazing. I loved especially the pictures of the colorful flowers and produce. Also, the pictures you had of the Indian people (especially the one of the two little girls smiling) were very nice. The pictures you showed of the temples just made me wish I could see the whole temple in person. The most interesting to me had to have been the older non-active temples. I really liked the temples that were cut out of caves, that’s must have been so interesting to walk through. I just couldn’t get over how much work and effort they must have put into all of the details on every temple. I liked how every single part of the temple was sculpted from the ceiling, to the walls, and the columns. You mentioned that because the Hindu religion has so many stories that every temples could portray a different aspect of the religion which adds to the excitement of seeing a new temple. Overall, this presentation was really interesting for me because I had never really learned much about India before. The best part was seeing your pictures and hearing all of the little interesting stories you had about each one.
Very good entries. I think you've found a very interesting clear identity for your sculpture. Mermaids are creatures of the water and it seems that expressing the fluidity of water would be an essential character for this piece. But I worry that the primary shape is so rigid and flat that it might not express the undulation of water as much as you'd want. What might you do to lessen that flatness? Appliques of different materials? Other added shapes that give the flatness a bit more life? Color?
I did not know what to expect when I went to the faculty showdown and I was very confused how there would be any competition between art professors and professors from other disciplines. After the rules were explained I was still anxious to figure out what sorts of topics would come up in the debates. In round one Katie (a language professor) and Joe (an art history professor) battled it out about art/ design and reality TV shows. Joe was first to give his opinion and he stated that shows like Project Runway and Design Star are good for the fields of art and design because the shows help explain the creative process and show how people experiment with visual problem solving. He did say that one of the bad things about these shows is just the nature of reality TV reduces things to sound bytes and you never get to see the whole process. After Joe gave his argument, Katie had her turn to argue against his points. She gave a whole list of reasons why reality TV is bad for the art world one of them being that these shows do not give you the full language of the art world. Her example for this point was that the judges on these shows frequently use the word modern when they mean to say contemporary or vice versa. Joe then established the point that a viewer does not need to know the language of art to fully understand one of these completive shows. The last point that Katie made, which I thought was a very good point, was that not all points of contact in a certain field are beneficial for the field. But, she also said, that any point of contact, no matter how bad it might be individually for the field, could be useful if it opens up a person to the actual usefulness of the discipline. I really agree with what Katie said at the end and I think that design TV shows can be good if it opens people up to the world of art…plus they are very entertaining to watch. The discussion in Round two occurred between Dave (a math professor) and you (Lisa- a studio art professor). Dave asked the very sarcastic question if art is really meaningful or worthwhile like his math is useful to many aspects of life. Your first response to his question was “Art is where it’s at!” You then went on to explain that creativity equals experimentation and freedom and that sometimes it is completely necessary to get out of set structure. You said that thinking outside of the box was a good thing. Dave responded by saying that there are many times where a scientist had to think outside of the box to come up with something useful to mankind. Your next response was that you already have a life with all of the “useful things” you need and that because you have all of those things taken care of you need to fulfill your life through reflection, expression, and emotions. The best part of this debate was when you brought up that Dave was an avid violin player and from that moment on he could not even keep up with his sarcastic argument. I obviously agree you that art is necessary and useful and it acts differently for everyone in helping fulfill their day to day life.
Nine. My goal for this sculpture was to give it qualities of water and things found in water like coral. The main shape of my sculpture was very mermaid like and made a lot of the focus be on the hips which was my original goal. The wire piece was very swirly and curvy which represents water and the flow of water, but I painted it red and pink which made it also look like coral. The base was blue, like water, with another wire spiral to mimic the flow of water. I think that I really accomplished my goal of creating an abstract figure that had a flowing, water like feel to it while also capturing the essence of a mermaid. The theme of my sculpture was definitely the strongest part of my piece and it is what I spent the most time thinking about in the beginning stages. Another thing I liked about this piece was who I incorporated the base. The shape of the base was curvy, like a pool of water, and was painted blue with the spiral swirl on it. The bottom of my main piece was also painted blue to make it look like the water was splashing up onto the green mermaid tail. My weakness was definitely in my execution. My main shape was very difficult for me to cut out on the band saw, so it is not as perfect and as symmetrical as I wanted it to be. The wood I was using was also very warped, so I wasn’t able to get a perfect paint job on it. The sheet metal strips I used for the hair was very difficult to braze onto the head of my wire shape. I am happy with the fact that I was able to connect that many strips of hair, but it does look a little sloppy. Looking back I wish I had thought of a different, easier way to create hair for this model that wouldn’t have been so difficult to attach. It was also very difficult to attach the wire shape to the main, green shape without it being wobbly. Overall, I think that ideas behind my sculpture were very good, but the execution was lacking. With more practice with the techniques I was using I think the shapes and connections could have been better.
It is easier to speak about short comings of fabrication because there are obvious standards. But what about visual design? Even though it is harder to label, I think you maybe could have pushed yourself to do a better job at critiquing your choices of shape and composition. You need to set your own standards but think back to Mary Stewart's challenge of redrawing your design to " make it 50% more dynamic". Could you do the same in terms of making your sculpture 50% more fluid?
Kelly’s piece was extremely strong with the continuation of the curves throughout the entire piece. The base added a nice touch, not being simply a square of wood, but a curved and rounded piece of plywood. The ribbons of hair gave a new element to the piece, and did not look like metal at all. When I first look at this sculpture, I am drawn to the middle with the light green heart.To me, this piece has a lot of movement, which branches out from the center of the piece, where her “hips” are. Here is where the small heart shape is placed, which accentuates the movement and flow of the pieces. Her choice of colors made the theme stray from the whole ocean and mermaid theme that was intended. Her choice of red, green and blue made the piece seem very organic in a land sense. Someone commented on the fact that they were reminded of mountains and landscape by this piece. Perhaps, she could have given more thought to her choices of color and how that might read to others. Perhaps instead of having just plain wire on the base of the sculpture, there could be wood with curved edges, perpendicular to the base. This might give the piece more dimensions. True, her piece is a very flat piece, the nature of the volume works for her idea. From an angle, the viewer still gets an interesting view. I think that the thickness of the plywood that Kelly chose is perfect for what she was using it for. Any thicker and the piece would lose its grace. The size of this sculpture is an appropriate size. If it were any smaller, we would lose the flowing sense of the sculpture. If the sculpture were, however, almost life-size, I feel there would be a different mood. It would seem more intimidating, so perhaps if the piece were slightly larger than it would be impressive, yet still graceful and mermaid like. The construction of the piece was very well done, and the attachment of the hair to the head was done in such a way, which is not distracting and is not terribly visible. The painting job of the piece is very smooth as well which adds to the movement and the overall tone of the piece.
Eleven. At first glance Manuel Neri’s sculptures look incomplete and barley finished, but when you look closer you can see the beauty in his “unfinished” work. His finished pieces often look very harsh and the materials are not perfectly polished and pretty like some sculpture might be. One of the reasons many of his sculptures look this way is because his favorite material to use is plaster. Neri once said, “I just love plaster. It’s cheap. You can do anything with it. You can keep adding to the figure. If you don’t like what you have, you can start over. And I love that dead white.” Because his signature material is plaster it makes it easy for him to, as he said, add and subtract whatever he wants. This makes it so that we as the viewers can see his piece as a thought process and not as a finished form. Plaster is also an easy material to hack away at and “destroy” to also give his sculptures the uncompleted look. Although Neri has confessed his love on the whiteness of plaster, he also experiments a lot with color in some of his pieces. Some of his pieces had very bold colors on their surfaces and seem to be splattered in an unfinished way like the structural form appears unfinished. He says, “What’s taking place on the surface of the structure when I move the material around or hacking into it is no different from pushing paint around.” In this quote he compares the hacking of plaster to the non-methodical “pushing” of paint around the surface of a sculpture. From what I can tell, Neri’s pieces are all about seeing the sculpture as a stage in its creation and not the final piece. The fact that these pieces aren’t “finished” is what makes them so interesting to me.
Twelve. The two major problems with my sculpture were the arms and its lack of a view from all sides. The arms were made from wire which I originally thought would have look cool as a contrast to the polished foam shapes, but after seeing it in my model I do not like this idea anymore. The wire proportion was too small and seemed out of place in my model. I think I am going to experiment with arms that match the rest of the model and that way my sculpture will have more constancy. I really want my sculpture to look delicate and polished and the wire was taking away from that goal and I think full arms will look better, or maybe no arms at all. My other main problem was that my model only has a front and a back and everything was in one line. I was very concerned that my model wouldn’t stand at all so I was nervous to have the legs, for example, out in a different plane from the body. I think I am going to change my models pose for the sculpture and have one leg kicked back and bent at the knee, forming a different ballet pose. I also want to either pull the arms back away from the body or in front of the body. My main expressive goals for this piece would be to convey a fluid, polished ballet dancer. I really want to focus on my foam carving and make the shapes as best I can, so that they really compliment my polished delicate theme. I also do not plan on adding any embellishments as I do not want to take away from the shapes themselves. Another theme in this model is, like my previous sculpture, the focus on the hips. My main body shape is really important with the heart shaped top, the tiny waist, and the wide hips. To better express these goals I need to put a lot more effort into sketching my shapes and making sure that everything is proportional.
this is my first lecture blog re-posted. the other two were from art week. - - - Lecture Blog One. Museum Studies Lecture “Pets in America: There History and why it Matters”
The first fact given in this lecture was that 63 percent of household have at least one pet. That is a lot of people who have pets and in our culture it shows that pets are obviously important. The woman who was giving this talk had been researching pets through history and I found it very interesting that much of her evidence was pictures and paintings from the past. She used these pictures as proof of statements she would make about pets in that time period. During the lecture there were multiple definitions given for “pet”. The first was a pet as a companion and her evidence of this was a post card with a photograph of a young boy and his dog. The second was a pet as a hobby or leisure and this was shown by a book on how to keep aquariums. The third definition was a pet as a status symbol and her evidence for this was a poster with drawings for a dog show. The fourth definition was pets as living art (“fancy” pets) and this was shown by an artistic photograph of pigeons. The final definition of a pet was a symbol of community and this was shown by a photograph of the post office’s mascot, which was a dog. I found it very interesting how much this woman’s knowledge of pets in the past relied on pictures and photographs. You could even say that sculpture played an important role in her studies, that is if you consider a dead, stuffed dog sculpture. At one point in the lecture she said that the sources she used documented practices and attitudes towards pets. I thought it was really fascinating that by looking at one painting, you could tell how pets were viewed during that time period. There was one example of a painting of two children and their dog. The lecturer than began analyzing the painting as a way to explain the feelings toward the dog. She pointed out that the dogs head was level with the children’s’ heads and stated that it meant the dog was equal to the children as a part of the family. There was also a rope the each girl held that was attached to the dogs collar, which she said suggested and continuity between the three. Some of the forms of art she used as evidence were: photographs, paintings, drawings, trade cards, books, diaries, and post cards. At the beginning of this lecture I was unclear how I would relate the information to art for this reflection, but as I began to focus on all of the evidence I realized that it was all art. It really showed me how much of an influence art has on how we perceive history.
Entry # 10 (review of Classmate): thoughtful review of Brendan’s sculpture.
Entry #11 (artist research): Very good basis- but you never quite mange to explore the expressive effect of all this roughness (also matched by decisions to fragment the body in various ways). You do say that maybe it’s about seeing the figure in then midst of creation not completed. This is a good start- develop that idea and see if other aspects of the work play along (how does the color add to that?) Is the creation literal or rather creation as his process?
Entry #12 (model assessment): very good- if your goal is delicate fluidity- I’d double check your composition ideas- that will be the main factor in the “flow” of the forms.
Fourteen. Before this class I had never really thought much about how sculptures where constructed and how the process of producing a sculpture worked. I knew that it was going to be a lot of work, but it ended up being harder than I would have imagined. Before this class I had never thought much about the process involved in created a sculpture and I guess I just naively thought all you had to do was draw a sketch and then make a sculpture. After this class, I now realize that to create a decent sculpture you have to work though a set of many steps. The first step being sketching a lot and then refining the good sketches and keep re-sketching until you have a decent sketch. Then you have to make some three dimensional models and keep re-working these models until you come up with a decent model. Then you can finally begin on your sculpture, which after you are done could probably use some refining. I have learned that sculpture is the art of refining and learning what works and what doesn’t. Without constantly criticizing your own work and reassessing you progress your piece would never reach its full potential. I think that this constant reworking and criticizing is what makes a good artist good. After all, if we had all just gone with our first sketches we all would have had pretty crappy sculptures. It’s the reworking and making small chances that makes a sculpture look appealing. This class has made me thinking about refining things and re doing things in a more positive way. Things like editing papers and rewriting drafts have always been annoying for me to do but, this class gave me something visual to look at to see how much you can improve something if you keep revising it. This class also gave me a lot of information about different methods and tools to use while making something. I have never done any of that kind of stuff before and it really was fun. The only thing I would suggest is that after you do a broad overview of new techniques that you figure out who wants to apply that technique in their sculpture and show that smaller group of students how to do it more individually (like you did when three of use wanted to braze…that was very helpful).
Fifteen. I think that my sculpture has come a long way from the model. Although some of my goals changed through the construction, I still believe that the piece overall conveyed what I wanted. Originally I had wanted my piece to be very smooth and sleek but, I changed that idea when I figured out how hard to was to smooth the foam perfectly. I think that I did a decent job of sanding the foam into its shapes and making it as smooth as possible but, it still did not look perfect so I decided to cover my entire piece with sparkles. I had to change my original goals to work better with the materials I had chosen and I think that I turned out much better than had I left it only painted. Originally, I had only wanted to put sparkles on the base but, then I thought it would have looked too decorative. By covering everything with sparkles I think that I made the glitter part of the piece rather than something glued on to it. Personally, I think that the glitter really ads to the dimensions of my sculpture and I think it was an interesting way to cover up the imperfections in the foam shapes. I think that some people may say that the glitter is too much and takes away from the simplicity of the shapes but, I would have to disagree because I think that without the sparkles the sculpture would be too boring. During this whole process I never had a very specific theme or storyline to follow for my sculpture. I would say this was one of my main flaws. Although I am overall really happy with me piece, I wish that I would have had a more definite theme. My process was very trial and error to see what looked good and I feel like my time would have been more well spent had I had a theme to think about throughout the process. The dowel joints in my piece were extremely difficult to put together and I am overall proud that it actually stands up. But there are gaps in some of the joints that I should have noticed and fixed before assembling the entire sculpture. Another structural flaw that bothers me is the proportion of the legs. The straight leg looks smaller than the bent leg due to the fact that I had to cut the straight leg more to allow room for the dowels. Overall, I enjoy how my shapes are feminine but still muscular and create the contrast between the prissiness of a ballerina and the strength all dancer must have. I wish that I could have labeled this as my theme at the beginning of the process and I think that I could have developed these ideas better.
A good self-assessment but I urge you to also look at the overall results and understand their effect. If this work is mostly about gesture, proportions and pose, then what do you think? What is visually happening and how does that effect the expressive content of the work?
One.
ReplyDeleteThe sculpture that I want to discuss is Brancusi’s “Torso”. At first glance I had absolutely no idea what this piece could have represented, but after reading its title my mind was flooded with new ideas. When I read “Torso” my first thought was that it represented strength. When I think of the human torso I think of it as our center, the core that holds us together and controls our every movement. A strong torso leads to a strong body and when you have a weak core the rest of your body is weakened. In class some people expressed the idea of sexuality in the piece, I can see where that comes from, but for me it is hard to ignore my first thought of strength.
The shape of this sculpture is bold in its simplicity and represents a sort of power that would have been lost if an entire figure was sculpted. If Brancusi had sculpted an entire figure the interpretations could have been endless, but by losing the rest of the body he had more control over what people could interpret. The shape of the torso is slanted and cut off at the top where the breast would have been. This dramatic line cuts in a way that we cannot tell whether or not the sculpture is male or female. By leaving the gender anonymous it leaves room for the viewer to apply the meaning of the sculpture to themselves. The bottom of the piece cuts off at the thigh. Having the thigh cut off made the center of my attention go to stomach and that is where I got my ideas of a strong and powerful core. For some, this cut off made the focus on the groin area creating an idea of sexuality. I think that by having such an uncomplicated, physical structure it allows for a more personalized reaction to the sculpture. When people look at art they see what they want to see and having such a simple and bold piece it makes people think harder about how the work relates to them personally.
At second glance, I realized that this sculpture is not all about strength and power. When I focused on the materials I noticed that it was constructed out of a beautiful softly colored, brown wood. If this sculpture was purely about strength it could have been constructed out of a stronger material such as metal. The choice of wood, however, creates a sort of softness that I found to be secondary to the power. Wood is vulnerable and soft which contrasts with the bold shape of the sculpture. When I started to think about the sculpture as a whole, including the materials, my interpretation became clearer. At first glance the sculpture represented pure power and force, but when you look deeper you can see the soft wood and the smooth surface. It make me think of looking at a person, at first all you see is the strong outside, but when you look deeper you can see who someone really is and get to know their weaknesses. The overall knowledge I gained from this piece is that you always have to look deeper than what your first glance shows you.
Kelly - A good job interpreting some of the expressive elements at play in the artwork but push harder for the conceptual overview that is implied from your observations. You make a great start by proposing that abstraction can 'allows for a more personalized reaction'. But this needs more development, what for instance is the downside? You hint at the audience needing to 'work harder', what are the implications of this?
ReplyDeleteTwo.
ReplyDeleteThis was my first experience drawing from a live model and one of the few times I have experimented drawing the human figure. I had a lot of difficulty at first because I never had to think about the figure abstractly before. Usually, when I look at a human figure I look at it and see a head, arms, and legs; but this class forced me to look at the figure differently than I ever have before. I had to see the body as a set of lines or shapes. Our first task was to draw only using straight lines, which was really difficult for me at first because I could not make my figures look any better than a second grader’s stick figure. After a few poses I was better able to look at the model and see the lines that his body was making instead of seeing the shape as a whole. With practice I was able to create a set of lines that described the model’s pose instead of lines that looked like a stick figure.
Our next challenge was to draw the figure using shapes. This was my favorite part of the class because it is interesting that with each pose the shape is completely different. I think that my shape drawings were my most successful because I was really able to look at the figure and decide what shape each part of the body looked like. The drawings I did during this time were very simplified, but still managed to look like figures. Once we had the limitation of only using four shapes the representations became more difficult for me. I see the main parts of the figure as the head, two arms, torso, and two legs; this adds up to six main shapes. It was really hard for me to decide which parts to combine into one shape or which parts to exclude. After a few poses I started to think back to some of my line drawings where maybe the torso and the left leg created one straight line and then I translated this idea into creating one shape for each straight line. Each activity we did during class gave me a better understanding of the figure. We started out very simply drawing the bare minimum and then we gradually worked our way up to understanding every shape and line within a pose. By having a structured class like this it forces you to think abstractly about the figure and really practice different ideas or techniques.
While working with the second model we did more collages and sculpting with wires. The very beginning of the class was difficult for me because I had no idea what to do with the wire. After some getting used to the wire and how I could shape it my work became more abstract instead of looking like stick figures. My work also seemed to get better when we had to make the figures somewhat three dimensional. Today and last week I noticed that I always have problems in the beginning while I am still figuring out how to work the materials and see the shapes. But, as the class goes on I get more used to the face pace and my work becomes better. I also enjoy taking a break to look at everyone else’s work because it gives me ideas on things I could do differently and shows me different points of view. Overall from these two days I learned that my ideas get better with time and practice makes perfect, so I will definitely take my time on my sculptures to make them as good as they can be.
Some very good observations.
ReplyDeleteThree.
ReplyDeleteAt first I had a hard time trying to think of what exactly I wanted to do for my models. To start off I choose my three favorite sketches, which all happened to be of the male model, and then I thought about materials. I started with my favorite sketch and started off by doing the pose in wire only. The shape of the wire was too simple by itself and after looking at it I knew it needed something more. I then traced the major shapes of wire and cut out matching cardboard pieces. To create a more three dimensional shape I glued the cardboard pieces inside the wire, but at an opposite angle. This ended up being my favorite sculpture because it has bold lines, good proportions, and simple shapes. I also like it because there are a lot of improvements I can make to it. Five specific improvements that I want to make to this model are: 1. Work to make my wires more smooth and sleek 2. Possibly add more detail to the cutouts, but without making it too cluttered 3. Figure out a way to keep the sculpture free standing 4. Possibly add something to the back to make it more viewable from all angles and 5. Make it a little bit bigger.
With the second model I made I wanted to try and use only wire and see how that would work out. This model was the smallest I made because it was very simple and straight forward. I liked this one because all of the wire shapes were ovals and it showed some simplistic consistency. The main reason why I did not choose this model to make my sculpture was that it was almost too simple. There wouldn’t have been very many improvements or additions that I could have made to it. Although I really like simplicity, I also like models that are more abstract. This model was clearly a figure, so it appeared less interesting than other models.
With my third model I used mostly cardboard because I was cutting out very bold and sharp shapes. I chose the sketch for this one because my sketch had all squares and rectangular shapes which was different than the circle and ovals I had used in my previous two models. This third model was also much bigger than the other two because it was by far the strongest pose. I liked this model because you could immediately look at it and think strong, big, bold, and assertive. But, once again, I did not like it as much as the first because of its clear resemblance of the figure. I also had a problem with it because I couldn’t think of a very good way to make it more three dimensional and viewable from all angles.
I am happy with my choice of model number one because it has all of the qualities that I wanted it to have: it’s a simple representation of the figure but it is still bold and interesting. Hopefully I will be able to create a sculpture that is able to stand on its own and be able to smooth out my wires. If I can accomplish those two goals I think my final sculpture with be a real improvement from the model.
A good list of what needs improving- good job. Don't get behind on these entries )blog #4?) because they are timed to what you are doing in the studio.
ReplyDeleteFour.
ReplyDeleteWhen first beginning my sculpture I was obsessed with trying to change everything in my model to make the whole thing better. This approach was not working because many aspects of my model were fine as they were and I was making it worse trying to change it. I thought that there should be a lot of visual, bold changes in my sculpture to make it an improvement from my model. Having this attitude in the beginning was very frustrating because none of my experimentation seemed to be working. For example I had thought I wanted my sculpture to be bigger than my model, but after multiple attempts I realized that my model was a good size. Once I realized that little changes could make the same impact as big changes my work ethic became more stable and I was no longer frustrated.
My initial design did not take into account the difficulty of having a freestanding sculpture. I had to be very experimental when deciding how to hold my sculpture together. I had originally wanted my sculpture to be seamless, but that was very impossible with the way I was using the materials. It took a long time and a good about of jigging, but I finally had a solution to my problem. I had very limited patience during these hours of work, but I was really proud that my sculpture was actually standing and the foam was in its place at the proper angle.
Overall, I think the little changes I made from my model to my sculpture were well worth the effort and amount of time I spent on this project. Of course, it could always be better and smoother, but with the time frame I think I have a decent attitude about my final piece.
Five.
ReplyDeleteWhat I like most about my sculpture and what I dislike about it is the same thing, the construction. I am very proud that I found creative ways to hold all of the wire and gator foam pieces where they needed to be, but I wish that I could have accomplished this in a more seamless way. When first beginning my piece, I focused a lot of time into created very smooth and bold wire shapes. The problem was that during the rest of my construction, these shapes cut bent and curvier than I would have liked and it became increasingly harder to adjust the wire without messing something else up. While trying to put the foam pieces within the wire shapes I had to make the decision of what was more important, having smooth wires or having the right angle of the foam. I decided that I really wanted the foam pieces to have a certain angle within the wires, so this decision made the smoothness of the wire secondary to the importance of the angles. Because I wanted these angles to be perfect I had to come up with a few very complicated jigs to hold the sculpture steady while the glue was drying. While doing this I had to be very creative and flexible in trying to figure out how to stabilize my piece without damaging the wire too much. Although you cannot see the jigs now, I think building them was one of my positives in the sculpture.
Besides the structural accomplishments, my favorite part of this sculpture was the way it seemed almost three dimensional even though every part of it was planar. A few people also mentioned this during the critique that the angles of the foam helped create volume where it didn’t exist before. Hearing these comments from my classmates made me glad that I had made the decision to perfect these angles in my construction. Many of the comments in the critique reinforced some of the decisions I had chosen during construction and it made me feel better that I had made the right choices. I also enjoyed the simplicity of my sculpture and the idea that these very basic shapes could create a figure. I decided to paint the sculpture, foam and wire, all black to help keep it simple. I really liked that painting it all one color made it more graphic. But, after painting it all black I really wanted to add a little bit of color without ruining the simplicity, so I choose to paint the edges of the foam blue. I loved the blue edges because it was a very subtle color change, but it also gave the edges a glossy look that made them stand out more. During the critique someone brought up that I should have also painted the base’s edges blue as well and I totally agree that I should have done that. I don’t think I noticed that while I was painting because I was seeing the base as a separate part when really in should have been a part of the sculpture and also had the blue edges.
Overall, I think the critique was very insightful and made me look at aspects of my sculpture from a different point of view. It was also very frustrating though because all I want to do now is go back and fix everything that people commented on, so that it would be better.
Lecture Blog One.
ReplyDeleteMuseum Studies Lecture
“Pets in America: There History and why it Matters”
The first fact given in this lecture was that 63 percent of household have at least one pet. That is a lot of people who have pets and in our culture it shows that pets are obviously important. The woman who was giving this talk had been researching pets through history and I found it very interesting that much of her evidence was pictures and paintings from the past. She used these pictures as proof of statements she would make about pets in that time period. During the lecture there were multiple definitions given for “pet”. The first was a pet as a companion and her evidence of this was a post card with a photograph of a young boy and his dog. The second was a pet as a hobby or leisure and this was shown by a book on how to keep aquariums. The third definition was a pet as a status symbol and her evidence for this was a poster with drawings for a dog show. The fourth definition was pets as living art (“fancy” pets) and this was shown by an artistic photograph of pigeons. The final definition of a pet was a symbol of community and this was shown by a photograph of the post office’s mascot, which was a dog.
I found it very interesting how much this woman’s knowledge of pets in the past relied on pictures and photographs. You could even say that sculpture played an important role in her studies, that is if you consider a dead, stuffed dog sculpture. At one point in the lecture she said that the sources she used documented practices and attitudes towards pets. I thought it was really fascinating that by looking at one painting, you could tell how pets were viewed during that time period. There was one example of a painting of two children and their dog. The lecturer than began analyzing the painting as a way to explain the feelings toward the dog. She pointed out that the dogs head was level with the children’s’ heads and stated that it meant the dog was equal to the children as a part of the family. There was also a rope the each girl held that was attached to the dogs collar, which she said suggested and continuity between the three. Some of the forms of art she used as evidence were: photographs, paintings, drawings, trade cards, books, diaries, and post cards.
At the beginning of this lecture I was unclear how I would relate the information to art for this reflection, but as I began to focus on all of the evidence I realized that it was all art. It really showed me how much of an influence art has on how we perceive history.
You say you could find the ways to improve the sculpture...maybe you need to go a bit farther by actually try doing an entire 'variation on a theme' second model. One that re-looked at the specific shapes the foam board and wire made? There are a hundred sculptures that follow the basic idea contained within your model. Sometimes if you don't go far enough with the idea of variation, very small shifts do undermine the unity of a design. In the same vein, I think you could go much farther self-assessing your work, why not be more critical? it can't hurt.
ReplyDeleteSix.
ReplyDeleteThe theme or idea for my first models was mermaids and water. My first model was more of a sketch because it was very flat and only one sided. I found it very helpful to do this three dimensional sketch because looking at it gave me more ideas for my two models. I thought that my three dimensional sketch had the best outlining shape and represented my idea of a mermaid the best. Because it was a flat and full cutout you could see that there were not two separate legs which added to the mermaid form. It was also brought up in the critique that my wire swirls were the best in the first sketch because they were very fluid, like water, which also went very well with my original theme.
After making my first model I wanted to explore what I could do to make the sculpture more viewable for all sides. The second model I did had cardboard cutouts on either side with swirly wire shapes in between. The cardboard shapes in this second model were not nearly as good as the shape of my first model. I also disliked how the wire came straight up from the base and made it look less like a mermaid because it then looked like the sculpture had two legs. To solve this problem, in my next model, I plan to have a full card board bottom that opens up in the stomach area for my wire shapes. I had also made hair out of wire and attached it to the head to add to the mermaid theme, but after the critique I think it might be a better idea to used cooper strips for the hair instead of the very stiff wire.
With my third model I wanted to play around with negative space, so I cut out my shape and then used the leftover ends of cardboard and put my wire shapes in the middle. The problems with this model were similar to the second. I did not like how the wire attached to the base made the model look like it had two legs and the cardboard shapes were not very strong. What I did like about the third model were the wire shapes and how they were still swirls like water, but also represented parts of a woman’s body. In my next model I definitely want to experiment more with the wire shapes and find a better way for them to look like flowing water, but still be representation of body parts.
Seven.
ReplyDeleteSchedule:
10/22- Cut out and sand main wood piece
10/26- Shape wire and braze together
10/29- Finish accenting wood shapes
Cut sheet metal for hair
Braze hair and wire
Paint wire shape
11/2- Paint wood shapes and base
10/4- Assemble whole sculpture
10/5- Finishing touches
Lecture Blog Two
ReplyDeleteTravel Tales: My trip to Southern India
Before this lecture I had never really seen or known many things about India. In the beginning of your presentation you began by showing us a map and explaining each main area that you visited. You started in Chennai, which you explained was along the coast, and then went to Tamil Nadu which was referred to as the “bread basket of India”, then you went through the mountains, and then back to a watery coast. I had never realized that India had so many places with different types of geography. I thought it was very interesting that you could go from one coast to the other and see everything in between from the mountains to the fields. I specifically remember the picture you showed from the mountain area and how green the grass looked in contrast with all of the rocks.
Before this lecture I also I had no idea how populated some of the cities in India could be. I had always thought of India as just a country where most people farm and live very modestly in the countryside, but after this presentation I have realized that a big part of India is its cities. When you showed us the pictures of the cities I was amazed at how crowded they were and how one would even be able to walk around. At one point of the presentation you mentioned that the cities of India definitely aren’t for everyone…I think I would much rather like the calmer, scenic, countryside. It was very interesting to look at your pictures and see the extreme differences from the city to the country. You referred to India as a “country of extreme contrast”, which I can now understand why. The pictures of the city were full of people and booming life and the pictures of the countryside showed modest houses and farms. It was also shocking to me when you mentioned that at certain times of the day the energy had to be turned off because there just wasn’t enough to last everyone the whole day.
The pictures you showed during your presentation were amazing. I loved especially the pictures of the colorful flowers and produce. Also, the pictures you had of the Indian people (especially the one of the two little girls smiling) were very nice. The pictures you showed of the temples just made me wish I could see the whole temple in person. The most interesting to me had to have been the older non-active temples. I really liked the temples that were cut out of caves, that’s must have been so interesting to walk through. I just couldn’t get over how much work and effort they must have put into all of the details on every temple. I liked how every single part of the temple was sculpted from the ceiling, to the walls, and the columns. You mentioned that because the Hindu religion has so many stories that every temples could portray a different aspect of the religion which adds to the excitement of seeing a new temple.
Overall, this presentation was really interesting for me because I had never really learned much about India before. The best part was seeing your pictures and hearing all of the little interesting stories you had about each one.
Very good entries. I think you've found a very interesting clear identity for your sculpture. Mermaids are creatures of the water and it seems that expressing the fluidity of water would be an essential character for this piece. But I worry that the primary shape is so rigid and flat that it might not express the undulation of water as much as you'd want. What might you do to lessen that flatness? Appliques of different materials? Other added shapes that give the flatness a bit more life? Color?
ReplyDeleteLecture Blog Three
ReplyDeleteFaculty Showdown
I did not know what to expect when I went to the faculty showdown and I was very confused how there would be any competition between art professors and professors from other disciplines. After the rules were explained I was still anxious to figure out what sorts of topics would come up in the debates. In round one Katie (a language professor) and Joe (an art history professor) battled it out about art/ design and reality TV shows. Joe was first to give his opinion and he stated that shows like Project Runway and Design Star are good for the fields of art and design because the shows help explain the creative process and show how people experiment with visual problem solving. He did say that one of the bad things about these shows is just the nature of reality TV reduces things to sound bytes and you never get to see the whole process. After Joe gave his argument, Katie had her turn to argue against his points. She gave a whole list of reasons why reality TV is bad for the art world one of them being that these shows do not give you the full language of the art world. Her example for this point was that the judges on these shows frequently use the word modern when they mean to say contemporary or vice versa. Joe then established the point that a viewer does not need to know the language of art to fully understand one of these completive shows. The last point that Katie made, which I thought was a very good point, was that not all points of contact in a certain field are beneficial for the field. But, she also said, that any point of contact, no matter how bad it might be individually for the field, could be useful if it opens up a person to the actual usefulness of the discipline. I really agree with what Katie said at the end and I think that design TV shows can be good if it opens people up to the world of art…plus they are very entertaining to watch.
The discussion in Round two occurred between Dave (a math professor) and you (Lisa- a studio art professor). Dave asked the very sarcastic question if art is really meaningful or worthwhile like his math is useful to many aspects of life. Your first response to his question was “Art is where it’s at!” You then went on to explain that creativity equals experimentation and freedom and that sometimes it is completely necessary to get out of set structure. You said that thinking outside of the box was a good thing. Dave responded by saying that there are many times where a scientist had to think outside of the box to come up with something useful to mankind. Your next response was that you already have a life with all of the “useful things” you need and that because you have all of those things taken care of you need to fulfill your life through reflection, expression, and emotions. The best part of this debate was when you brought up that Dave was an avid violin player and from that moment on he could not even keep up with his sarcastic argument. I obviously agree you that art is necessary and useful and it acts differently for everyone in helping fulfill their day to day life.
Nine.
ReplyDeleteMy goal for this sculpture was to give it qualities of water and things found in water like coral. The main shape of my sculpture was very mermaid like and made a lot of the focus be on the hips which was my original goal. The wire piece was very swirly and curvy which represents water and the flow of water, but I painted it red and pink which made it also look like coral. The base was blue, like water, with another wire spiral to mimic the flow of water. I think that I really accomplished my goal of creating an abstract figure that had a flowing, water like feel to it while also capturing the essence of a mermaid. The theme of my sculpture was definitely the strongest part of my piece and it is what I spent the most time thinking about in the beginning stages. Another thing I liked about this piece was who I incorporated the base. The shape of the base was curvy, like a pool of water, and was painted blue with the spiral swirl on it. The bottom of my main piece was also painted blue to make it look like the water was splashing up onto the green mermaid tail.
My weakness was definitely in my execution. My main shape was very difficult for me to cut out on the band saw, so it is not as perfect and as symmetrical as I wanted it to be. The wood I was using was also very warped, so I wasn’t able to get a perfect paint job on it. The sheet metal strips I used for the hair was very difficult to braze onto the head of my wire shape. I am happy with the fact that I was able to connect that many strips of hair, but it does look a little sloppy. Looking back I wish I had thought of a different, easier way to create hair for this model that wouldn’t have been so difficult to attach. It was also very difficult to attach the wire shape to the main, green shape without it being wobbly.
Overall, I think that ideas behind my sculpture were very good, but the execution was lacking. With more practice with the techniques I was using I think the shapes and connections could have been better.
It is easier to speak about short comings of fabrication because there are obvious standards. But what about visual design? Even though it is harder to label, I think you maybe could have pushed yourself to do a better job at critiquing your choices of shape and composition. You need to set your own standards but think back to Mary Stewart's challenge of redrawing your design to " make it 50% more dynamic". Could you do the same in terms of making your sculpture 50% more fluid?
ReplyDeleteKelly’s piece was extremely strong with the continuation of the curves throughout the entire piece. The base added a nice touch, not being simply a square of wood, but a curved and rounded piece of plywood. The ribbons of hair gave a new element to the piece, and did not look like metal at all.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first look at this sculpture, I am drawn to the middle with the light green heart.To me, this piece has a lot of movement, which branches out from the center of the piece, where her “hips” are. Here is where the small heart shape is placed, which accentuates the movement and flow of the pieces.
Her choice of colors made the theme stray from the whole ocean and mermaid theme that was intended. Her choice of red, green and blue made the piece seem very organic in a land sense. Someone commented on the fact that they were reminded of mountains and landscape by this piece. Perhaps, she could have given more thought to her choices of color and how that might read to others.
Perhaps instead of having just plain wire on the base of the sculpture, there could be wood with curved edges, perpendicular to the base. This might give the piece more dimensions.
True, her piece is a very flat piece, the nature of the volume works for her idea. From an angle, the viewer still gets an interesting view. I think that the thickness of the plywood that Kelly chose is perfect for what she was using it for. Any thicker and the piece would lose its grace.
The size of this sculpture is an appropriate size. If it were any smaller, we would lose the flowing sense of the sculpture. If the sculpture were, however, almost life-size, I feel there would be a different mood. It would seem more intimidating, so perhaps if the piece were slightly larger than it would be impressive, yet still graceful and mermaid like.
The construction of the piece was very well done, and the attachment of the hair to the head was done in such a way, which is not distracting and is not terribly visible. The painting job of the piece is very smooth as well which adds to the movement and the overall tone of the piece.
Eleven.
ReplyDeleteAt first glance Manuel Neri’s sculptures look incomplete and barley finished, but when you look closer you can see the beauty in his “unfinished” work. His finished pieces often look very harsh and the materials are not perfectly polished and pretty like some sculpture might be. One of the reasons many of his sculptures look this way is because his favorite material to use is plaster. Neri once said, “I just love plaster. It’s cheap. You can do anything with it. You can keep adding to the figure. If you don’t like what you have, you can start over. And I love that dead white.” Because his signature material is plaster it makes it easy for him to, as he said, add and subtract whatever he wants. This makes it so that we as the viewers can see his piece as a thought process and not as a finished form. Plaster is also an easy material to hack away at and “destroy” to also give his sculptures the uncompleted look.
Although Neri has confessed his love on the whiteness of plaster, he also experiments a lot with color in some of his pieces. Some of his pieces had very bold colors on their surfaces and seem to be splattered in an unfinished way like the structural form appears unfinished. He says, “What’s taking place on the surface of the structure when I move the material around or hacking into it is no different from pushing paint around.” In this quote he compares the hacking of plaster to the non-methodical “pushing” of paint around the surface of a sculpture.
From what I can tell, Neri’s pieces are all about seeing the sculpture as a stage in its creation and not the final piece. The fact that these pieces aren’t “finished” is what makes them so interesting to me.
Twelve.
ReplyDeleteThe two major problems with my sculpture were the arms and its lack of a view from all sides. The arms were made from wire which I originally thought would have look cool as a contrast to the polished foam shapes, but after seeing it in my model I do not like this idea anymore. The wire proportion was too small and seemed out of place in my model. I think I am going to experiment with arms that match the rest of the model and that way my sculpture will have more constancy. I really want my sculpture to look delicate and polished and the wire was taking away from that goal and I think full arms will look better, or maybe no arms at all.
My other main problem was that my model only has a front and a back and everything was in one line. I was very concerned that my model wouldn’t stand at all so I was nervous to have the legs, for example, out in a different plane from the body. I think I am going to change my models pose for the sculpture and have one leg kicked back and bent at the knee, forming a different ballet pose. I also want to either pull the arms back away from the body or in front of the body.
My main expressive goals for this piece would be to convey a fluid, polished ballet dancer. I really want to focus on my foam carving and make the shapes as best I can, so that they really compliment my polished delicate theme. I also do not plan on adding any embellishments as I do not want to take away from the shapes themselves. Another theme in this model is, like my previous sculpture, the focus on the hips. My main body shape is really important with the heart shaped top, the tiny waist, and the wide hips. To better express these goals I need to put a lot more effort into sketching my shapes and making sure that everything is proportional.
this is my first lecture blog re-posted.
ReplyDeletethe other two were from art week.
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Lecture Blog One.
Museum Studies Lecture
“Pets in America: There History and why it Matters”
The first fact given in this lecture was that 63 percent of household have at least one pet. That is a lot of people who have pets and in our culture it shows that pets are obviously important. The woman who was giving this talk had been researching pets through history and I found it very interesting that much of her evidence was pictures and paintings from the past. She used these pictures as proof of statements she would make about pets in that time period. During the lecture there were multiple definitions given for “pet”. The first was a pet as a companion and her evidence of this was a post card with a photograph of a young boy and his dog. The second was a pet as a hobby or leisure and this was shown by a book on how to keep aquariums. The third definition was a pet as a status symbol and her evidence for this was a poster with drawings for a dog show. The fourth definition was pets as living art (“fancy” pets) and this was shown by an artistic photograph of pigeons. The final definition of a pet was a symbol of community and this was shown by a photograph of the post office’s mascot, which was a dog.
I found it very interesting how much this woman’s knowledge of pets in the past relied on pictures and photographs. You could even say that sculpture played an important role in her studies, that is if you consider a dead, stuffed dog sculpture. At one point in the lecture she said that the sources she used documented practices and attitudes towards pets. I thought it was really fascinating that by looking at one painting, you could tell how pets were viewed during that time period. There was one example of a painting of two children and their dog. The lecturer than began analyzing the painting as a way to explain the feelings toward the dog. She pointed out that the dogs head was level with the children’s’ heads and stated that it meant the dog was equal to the children as a part of the family. There was also a rope the each girl held that was attached to the dogs collar, which she said suggested and continuity between the three. Some of the forms of art she used as evidence were: photographs, paintings, drawings, trade cards, books, diaries, and post cards.
At the beginning of this lecture I was unclear how I would relate the information to art for this reflection, but as I began to focus on all of the evidence I realized that it was all art. It really showed me how much of an influence art has on how we perceive history.
Entry # 10 (review of Classmate): thoughtful review of Brendan’s sculpture.
ReplyDeleteEntry #11 (artist research): Very good basis- but you never quite mange to explore the expressive effect of all this roughness (also matched by decisions to fragment the body in various ways). You do say that maybe it’s about seeing the figure in then midst of creation not completed. This is a good start- develop that idea and see if other aspects of the work play along (how does the color add to that?) Is the creation literal or rather creation as his process?
Entry #12 (model assessment): very good- if your goal is delicate fluidity- I’d double check your composition ideas- that will be the main factor in the “flow” of the forms.
Entry #13 (art event): yes
Fourteen.
ReplyDeleteBefore this class I had never really thought much about how sculptures where constructed and how the process of producing a sculpture worked. I knew that it was going to be a lot of work, but it ended up being harder than I would have imagined. Before this class I had never thought much about the process involved in created a sculpture and I guess I just naively thought all you had to do was draw a sketch and then make a sculpture. After this class, I now realize that to create a decent sculpture you have to work though a set of many steps. The first step being sketching a lot and then refining the good sketches and keep re-sketching until you have a decent sketch. Then you have to make some three dimensional models and keep re-working these models until you come up with a decent model. Then you can finally begin on your sculpture, which after you are done could probably use some refining. I have learned that sculpture is the art of refining and learning what works and what doesn’t. Without constantly criticizing your own work and reassessing you progress your piece would never reach its full potential. I think that this constant reworking and criticizing is what makes a good artist good. After all, if we had all just gone with our first sketches we all would have had pretty crappy sculptures. It’s the reworking and making small chances that makes a sculpture look appealing. This class has made me thinking about refining things and re doing things in a more positive way. Things like editing papers and rewriting drafts have always been annoying for me to do but, this class gave me something visual to look at to see how much you can improve something if you keep revising it. This class also gave me a lot of information about different methods and tools to use while making something. I have never done any of that kind of stuff before and it really was fun. The only thing I would suggest is that after you do a broad overview of new techniques that you figure out who wants to apply that technique in their sculpture and show that smaller group of students how to do it more individually (like you did when three of use wanted to braze…that was very helpful).
Fifteen.
ReplyDeleteI think that my sculpture has come a long way from the model. Although some of my goals changed through the construction, I still believe that the piece overall conveyed what I wanted. Originally I had wanted my piece to be very smooth and sleek but, I changed that idea when I figured out how hard to was to smooth the foam perfectly. I think that I did a decent job of sanding the foam into its shapes and making it as smooth as possible but, it still did not look perfect so I decided to cover my entire piece with sparkles. I had to change my original goals to work better with the materials I had chosen and I think that I turned out much better than had I left it only painted. Originally, I had only wanted to put sparkles on the base but, then I thought it would have looked too decorative. By covering everything with sparkles I think that I made the glitter part of the piece rather than something glued on to it. Personally, I think that the glitter really ads to the dimensions of my sculpture and I think it was an interesting way to cover up the imperfections in the foam shapes. I think that some people may say that the glitter is too much and takes away from the simplicity of the shapes but, I would have to disagree because I think that without the sparkles the sculpture would be too boring. During this whole process I never had a very specific theme or storyline to follow for my sculpture. I would say this was one of my main flaws. Although I am overall really happy with me piece, I wish that I would have had a more definite theme. My process was very trial and error to see what looked good and I feel like my time would have been more well spent had I had a theme to think about throughout the process.
The dowel joints in my piece were extremely difficult to put together and I am overall proud that it actually stands up. But there are gaps in some of the joints that I should have noticed and fixed before assembling the entire sculpture. Another structural flaw that bothers me is the proportion of the legs. The straight leg looks smaller than the bent leg due to the fact that I had to cut the straight leg more to allow room for the dowels. Overall, I enjoy how my shapes are feminine but still muscular and create the contrast between the prissiness of a ballerina and the strength all dancer must have. I wish that I could have labeled this as my theme at the beginning of the process and I think that I could have developed these ideas better.
A good self-assessment but I urge you to also look at the overall results and understand their effect. If this work is mostly about gesture, proportions and pose, then what do you think? What is visually happening and how does that effect the expressive content of the work?
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