End of Course Review

1. What were you expectations for this course and where they met?

I came into this course with little expectations as someone who is not really 'into' the art world. But this course ended up being quite interesting and even broadened my interests a bit in regards to art. 

2. Now that you've been through this course, What is art? How would you define it now compared to your initial posting?

In the original discussion board I defined art as "The creation of beauty and life through artwork, words, film, music, or what have you" and I still stand by that definition. 

3. Who was your favorite artist in your original posting and who is your favorite visual artist now? If there is a difference, why do you think so? If you have the same favorite artist, why do you think so?

 I did not have on in my original post, and I don't know if I have one still. Perhaps Dali just because I enjoy surrealism so much and when we discussed the topic in class I grew to love it even more. 

4. Now that you've completed this course, how do you feel about taking an online course? Is your answer the same as it was in your first posting? How is it the same or different?

I've taken online courses before and this one won't be my last. I feel the same now as I did at the beginning of the course - I am fine with taking courses online! It may take more discipline but it's very convenient. 

Project #4: Art Curator Exhibition Slideshow

For this project, it took me a little while to think of a good theme. I ended up looking through different works of art and decided I found the images of the world, landscapes in particular, were what I found the most beautiful. From there I went through and found works that really caught my eye and brought out an emotional response from me. 

When it came to putting together the power point/'gallery' I really wanted to keep everything very 'Earth-y'. I wanted to use Earth tones in the slides and keep everything very green and nature like. I wanted to stick to my theme of beauty on Earth. 

I also wanted to build on my theme with the idea that there is beauty everywhere in the World. It is not just in nature scenes or images free of one element or another. I wanted to show life in a variety of places, in nature and with people and in cities and towns. I wanted to show beauty lies everywhere. 

The message I really wanted to send with my theme and my 'gallery' was that beauty can be found absolutely everywhere, and that the most simple of scenes can be the most beautiful. 

My presentation can be seen here:


And all the works used in my 'gallery' can be found here. 

Art Gallery Visit #3: Self-Portraits Art Making/Material Exploration

For this project I used the Google Art Project site and explored the Korean Art Museum Association section. Here are the images I selected: 

Untitled by Jung Wook Kim,
Painting (Korean ink and color on Korean paper)
1115 x 7620 cm
2008

Untitled by Jung Wook Kim
Painting (Korean ink and color on Korean paper)
630 x 940 cm
1999

Untitled by Jung Wook Kim
Painting (Korean ink and color on Korean paper)
430 x 340 cm
2004

Now for this project we also had to look at a photograph of ourselves and draw ourselves. This is what I came up with:

Questions about the project:

1. Why did you select the inspiration pieces?

I really liked these self portraits that I’ve chosen because they were different, odd even. They had exaggerated features and obviously it wasn’t a dead on work that looked exactly like the artist. I really liked them because I have very low artistic ability when it comes to physical art. I feel like using examples that are more exaggerated and different to draw my own portrait would help me feel better about how mine comes out – not looking like a photograph but like a different kind of depiction of myself. 

2. Why did you select the media to create your self-portrait?

I’m not an artist as I’ve mentioned, and I’m very comfortable with pencils – that is all I use to write with. So I felt that would be the best choice of medium.

3. What challenges did you face in creating your self-portrait and how did you overcome them?

My biggest challenge was really just getting the piece started. Drawing intimidates me as I have very little skill with it, and merely staring at a blank sheet of paper had me worried. But once I just started sketching and reminding myself I’m not creating a picture perfect image of me it got easier.

4. How does this piece represent you?

I think this image I’ve created represents me in that it’s low key, simple even, but you can almost sense the attitude within it. I also purposely did not include my eyes in the image because as a very shy person, I have a hard time making eye contact or keeping my eyes on people, and felt the odd image could be added to without such a major part of someone’s face

5. What elements and principles of art did you apply in this work?

This is a difficult question, but I feel I utilized the element of shapes in my work, as well as the principle of balance.

6. Did you enjoy working on this project?

I did find this project rather enjoyable. It was fun but also interesting to see what I could create when looking at myself.

7. What do you think of your final artwork?

I think it came out better than I was expecting. I was honestly expecting my work to come out terrible but it really came out interestingly, and I like the thought I put behind it, it was again more than I was expecting to come out of it. 

Art Exhibits Video Reviews

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

In the first video, The Lowdown on Lowbrow: West Coast Pop Art, some of the key concepts discussed was the idea of Pop Art and how unique it is, as well as how being high brow and low brow relates to it. This is a very individualized art in that the artists of pop art seem to feel themselves different or better than the ‘high brow’ or even snotty artists/people of art galleries. Talking about lowbrow art, this kind of artists seems to be considered less civilized than those of higher brow artists in art galleries and such. The second video, Displaying Modern Art: The Tate Approach, was all about modern art and how it’s part of/effected art galleries around the world. It spoke of the resistance against some modern art in galleries, but ultimately they helped give new shape to the art world. In the last video, An Acquiring Mind: Philippe de Montebello and The Metropolitan, it talked all about Philippe de Montebello who was the director of the Metropolitan museum for more than three decades, where he greatly increased the museum’s collection and changed the way it looked at the works. His work helped make the museum so incredibly successful.

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

I think all three of these videos could relate to my art exhibition project. It has given me some great ideas about what kind of exhibit to create and work with. I will certainly be coming back to these videos when I finish my project.

3. What is your opinion of the films? Do they add depth to understanding of the art concepts you practiced while creating your curation project?

I think the videos were good, some of the most interesting ones we’ve watched all semester if I really think about it. I think I will definitely call back to the concepts learned in these videos when I complete my project.