Reflection of AED 200

1. What were you expectations for this course and where they met?
I expected this class to be simple, since I had taken several courses like this before, but I expected to get some good experiences with other materials. I think with the last self-portrait project alone, the expectations were met. I got a cool semi-abstract portrait, and a review of art concepts, styles, and periods.

2. Now that you've been through this course, What is art? How would you define it now compared to your initial posting?
In my initial posting I described art as a way of expression. Anything that you create could be considered art. Now I would say it is anything that is aesthetically pleasing. Anything that catches your eye, even for a second. The most interesting art would have principles and elements, and contain some type of underlying meaning.

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?
In my original post I didn't give a favorite artist, and I don't think I have one now either. There are several that I'm interested in, but I like each one for different reasons, and as times change, and styles change, I find more new inspirational artists. I definitely took more of an interest towards abstract and conceptual art during this course though, so those artists are a central focus right now.

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 had taken a few online classes before, but never with Angel, so it was a little different. I enjoyed it. Everything was easily accessible, and the work was a reasonable amount for the time we had to do it. The only thing I feared was getting behind, but it wasn't a problem at all.

I didn't feel inspired by many pieces at the gallery. I chose the self portrait with a monkey, by Freida Kahlo simply because I liked the color palette and the interesting composition. After the gallery, I searched some abstract self portraits online. I found a few that I really enjoyed. I really liked the simplicity of the third portrait and the monochromatic color scheme. The first composition would be fun to recreate if I was using a digital program, but I chose paint.



I chose to do the portrait in paint. I desaturated the my picture using a photoshop program, then inverted the colors to give it a more abstract look. I debated between using paint and cut paper and decided on paint, using the white of the paper, and one other color.


I had a hard time with the paint at the beginning. I kept smearing it, and started over three times. I was referring to my computer as a visual aid, and painting from that. I think it would have been easier to print the picture out, and paint from that, but it worked out okay.

My piece was an abstract representation of my face. I liked the way it looked because if you look vertically in the center of the piece, you can almost picture it as an eye and a nose of another figure looking to the left.

I knew I wanted to use one color, and have high contrast in the piece. I think it is very well balanced, and instead of having one central focal point, the piece draws attention as a whole. It was fun to break the image down into shapes, like the triangles in each corner and as the highlight on my cheek, and the watch the shapes in my lips create a feeling of shading and value.

I enjoyed the project. I had a short period of time to work on it. I wish I had more time, and I wish I could have found more inspirational pieces at the museum, but it was still an interesting project. I have done self portraits before, but I usually tend to be very realistic, and it takes me a long time to complete it. I knew with the time restriction I would have to be abstract, so I was able to try something new.

I think my final artwork was successful. I knew what I wanted to do right away after deciding I didn't have enough time to be a perfectionist and put every detail in. I now have a piece of work that is different from my normal works, which are very detailed and realistic.

Art Critique Review

1. Which projects did you review?
I looked at Kim Will's exhibit on Waterfalls, and Alicia Meisner's project about Change. Both projects were interesting and had a good overall theme, but I also viewed Sarah Bojaks project on Children and Impressionism and it was very well done.

2. Why did you select the Exhibit you critiqued?
It was colorful, and playful, and the subject matter of children was one of my options when I was creating my own. I thought it had a lot of strong points that I could talk about in my critique.

3. What challenges did you face in writing the critique article and how did you overcome them?
I had trouble with where to start when creating my critique. I actually went on Yahoo! and searched for a quide to critiquing an exhibit. I have critiqued artworks before, but the only other exhibit I critiqued was one from the Alrbight, for this class. I think it was easier critiquing an actual exhibit than a powerpoint slide.

4. How do you feel about critiquing your peers work?
I like it. I was afraid of being too critical, and offending someone, but the three projects I viewed were well done and I chose one that I had a lot of good things to say about.

5. Would you like to read the critique your peers wrote about your Art Curation Project?
I would love to. I think it would be helpful, and I'm very open to criticism.

6. On a scale of 1-10 how would you rate your finished article and why?
I would rate it a seven out of ten. I would like to read other peoples articles to see how they approached the critique, and if they referred to it as slides, and a slideshow or pretended it was an actual exhibit they viewed...

7. Did you enjoy working on this project?
I enjoyed it. I think after creating my own project, while critiquing others, I was comparing it to my own, and I believe it helped my knowledge of exhibits greatly.

Six Video Reviews

In the video, Greenberg on Art Criticism, he discusses the important things to remember when critiquing art. In his opinion, visual art is the hardest to critique. He states that he has a hard time not being biased or expressing his own preferences, but you have to be open and receptive when critiquing. Greenberg tries to focus on being relevant, and having good reasoning. When viewing works, we've been reminded to be receptive, and open, and this video reinforces those points.

In the next video, Clement Greenberg discussed the art of Jackson Pollock. He talks about how he knew Pollock was going to be a great painter, and when Pollock painted his first drip painting in 1947. He discusses the nontraditional works of Pollock, "outside of the box". He gives Pollock a lot of credit for his works, and even talks about how Pollock rejects criticism of his works. I think this applies, because some people may not take the advice we have to improve their exhibit. They may think otherwise and completely reject what we say.

The third video talks about the Renaissance and the renewed enthusiasm for art. It includes information about works by many famous artists, encompassed in Visari's book "Lives of the Artist". They discuss how art is changing and each artist learns something new from the ones who came before them. It doesn't give suggestions for critiquing like the other videos, but it does contain some criticism of works in the Italian Renaissance. The text accompanying the video stated that Vasari's book has been the basis of art criticism since the 16th century.

The video, The Critics: Stories from the Inside Pages, features several critics talking about their own criticism and opinions of others. It starts by talking about what criticism does, and how it is a good thing. It has input from book critics, music critics, and visual art critics. Critics are people who are willing to make an argument, and often act as reporters. It makes me think mostly of movie critics. They put their own opinion on movies, and persuade other people to see things in their way. Some artists don't see critics as helpful though. Some think they send out the wrong message, and are too critical. The video encourages us to see all of the possibilities in artworks, and to really think about works which we see and hear everyday.

I found the video about The Colonial Encounter boring, and not very informational as far as art criticism goes. It talks about Colonialism and The Worlds Fair, and the woman is discussing the different cultures and art. There technically is criticism in it, as she describes it, and interprets it, but its difficult to understand and not a good video to learn from.

While Pollock was praised and admired in the video with Greenberg, the last video notices him as a great artist, but discusses how he brought negative comments to Modern Art. Michael Freid and T.J. Clark discuss his work Lavender Mist and both show their different approaches to critiquing art. One focused on the power of it at the time period in which it was created, and one of them discussed it strictly based on the way it looked, and the beauty and aesthetics it had. I think this is an important video because you get to see two different views, and how they took in each others opinions and combined it with their own. It reinforces the fact that each person has a different opinion and interpretation of art, and each critique would be different.

I think the first two videos and the last video were the most helpful. The last one with the two critics going back and forth about Pollock's paintings was interesting to watch. Each one had their own way of seeing it, but wasn't opposed to hearing other views. After the first video with Greenberg, he seemed to really stand his ground, and think his opinion was the only opinion, but the two in the last video seemed very open and reasonable.