Week Two
Tuesday, September 6, 2016
To study art, you must first know what it is.
A work of art is defined as a visual expression of an idea or an experience that was formed with skill. Artists make an artwork using different mediums. A medium is a particular material, along with technique. The artist selects media to suit the function of the work and the ideas being presented. Every piece of artwork is made up of form and content. Content is the meaning of the work and form is the total effect of the combined visuals. Form is the total effect of the combined visual elements (such as material, color, shape, design, etc) There are 4 main categories of art: Representational, Abstract, Non representational, and Iconography. Representational is what most people picture when they here "art". It depicts the appearance of things realistically. Figurative art is a nonrepresentational art with human subjects. (subjects are the objects representational art depicts.) Trompe-l' loeil ("tromploy") is a french word meaning "to fool the eye". It is used to describe art so realistic it looks like a picture. Abstract means "to take from". Objects are simplified, distorted, or exaggerated. Non-representational presents visual forms with no references or meaning behind them. Iconography is when symbols represent a meaning. This is used a lot in religion, like how the cross symbolized Jesus. Remember, there's a difference between looking at these artworks and actually seeing! Looking implies the habitual and mechanical way of quickly looking at something without thought. Seeing is open and focused, carefully examining something.
Wednesday, September 7, 2016
To make artwork, creativity is needed. Creativity is the ability to bring something that has new value, relevance, or presents a new way of thinking. CEO’s of big business’ state that creativity is the most important value to them. Creativity has five defining traits: Associating, questioning, observing, networking, and experimenting. (AQONE) Associations is the ability to make connections across seemingly unrelated fields. Questioning is persisting challenging the “status Quo”, asking why things function the way they do. Observing is watching the world without judging. Networking is being willing to interact with others and learn from them, even if they have different views. Experimenting is exploring new possibilities. Creativity is an attitude; you don’t need to be a trained artist to have it. Untrained artists who didn’t go to school for the profession are called “folk artist” or “outsider artist”. All children are considered to be untrained artist because they have an intuitive sense of creativity. Unfortunately, they begin losing it when they are 6, and doubting themselves when 9 years old. Artist are unique because they keep their creativity until adulthood.
