12.07.2007

artist essay #4...mike kelley











Mike Kelley has an extremely strange style and a wide variety of art work. He focuses on pieces that include stuffed animals and also performance art. On ART:21 they showed the filming of one of his performance arts pieces that was inspired by a high school yearbook. The stuffed animals don't have anything to do with him having a bad childhood, he just enjoys using them as a media in his art works.




artist essay #3...sally mann
















Sally Mann is a photographer who is notorious for taking photographs of her children while they are nude. While she is not taking any pornographic photography, it is still easy to find some of the photographs offensive. She claims that when she was a child, it was normal to run around playing without any clothes on, and so she thought that it was perfectly fine that her children weren't wearing clothes, and she was just photographing them playing. The thing I liked the most about Sally Mann was that she said she did photography just for fun and she didn't have to have a reason.

artist essay #2...andrea zittel
















Andrea Zittel is an artist that used to breed animals and found that they have everything they need in a very small space, and this is what influenced her to create these pieces. She worked to create her own space where she could have everything she needed in a very tiny spot. One of her projects included making an entire island out of concrete and living on it for a month with no contact to anyone else. Some of her other works include the Uniform Project and the A-Z Comfort Zone.

artist essay #1...Barry McGee & Margaret Kilgallen
















Barry McGee and Margaret Kilgallen were a married couple with a child that mainly focused on graffiti art. All of their art-works were hand painted, and most of it was influenced by folklore. Their work varied from installations, to canvas paintings, to painting on trains, and many other subjects.
Barry's work is basically a representation of the hard times he had growing up in an urban area. The pieces are all very abstract and have a very and sad gloomy feel to them.
Margaret's works were mainly murals and paintings that were representations of folk art. She was influenced by Mexican art works. Margaret dies at the age of 33 from breast cancer.

blog entry #4...great works of color




Great Work #1-"The Yellow Cow" by Franz Marc


Great Work #2- W.J.T. Mitchell, "Iconology and Picture Theory"
Great Work #3-Frankie Morello at Fashion Week
1. These works have contributed to new and different understandings of color in the world because they have stepped outside of what is traditional and expected and came out with something new and fresh.
2.The Yellow cow is different from other works in the same genre because it has warm and cool complimentary colors that pop and give the entire piece an exciting feeling.
3.This piece of Frankie Morello's is very different from his other pieces because it is bold and bright, while many of his other styles are dark and don't stand out as much.
4.Dominance is used by all of these artists to help the viewer visualize the most important factors of the composition.
5.The human form is addressed in these works as a blank canvas. You can start with absolutely nothing and the end come out with something beautiful.
6.After seeing these works, it has influenced me to take risks and step out of the box in everything I do and every aspect of my life.











blog entry #3...ART:21 Place and Stories

ART:21 PLACE

1. I believe that depending on the situation, either a place can define us, or we can define the place. Some places can cause us to create memories because of the purpose of the place. For example, a lake where you would go camping is a place that is meant for you to create memories. But a place like a doctor's office isn't a place that's meant for you to create memories. On the other hand, there's often places like high school, that are not meant for you to make memories, but rather for students to learn. Even so, most students graduate high school and have made a whole mess of memories in those four years.

2.Each of the featured artists are influenced by their own personal places. The things that happened to them and the memories that they retain from them are carried out in the art that they create.

3.I felt the most connected with Sally Mann. She is a photographer and I very much agreed with her when she said that she makes art just for fun and she doesn't have to have a reason. I believe this is very true and many people overlook the simple factor of making something just because you think it is beautiful.

4. -Cabin in Michigan-mischievous
- Barn-home
-Bedroom-safe
-Optometrist Office-repetitive
-Pole Vault runway-fearless

5.My barn is a place where I spent a lot of my time as a child. Most of the objects were pretty large, like the stalls, the stocks, the wheel barrel, bales of hay, and bags of oats. Although the lighting in the barn wasn't particularly good, we were usually out there during the day so the sun lit up the place very well. Even if the lighting was dreary, in my mind it will always be a bright, happy place.

ART:21 STORIES

1.The most important stories told in our lives are ones that are relevant to your personal being, to what makes you, you. If I had to be certain that one story passed on, I would want to make sure that it was the story of 9/11 and how patriotic our country got after the disaster. Even though it was a horrible tragedy, more flags than I had ever seen went up, and people remembered why it was good to be an American.

2.I think the reason why some stories are told and stay alive opposed to others is simply because they're more interesting. If there's a good twist, a great ending, or even a nail-biting plot, the stories interesting or has a quality that makes people remember that story and want to share it with others.

3.Artists featured in "Stories" used journals and sketchbooks, along with other mediums to interpret their personal stories. A sketchbook is a work of art because it shows someones emotions. Someones story is told in a journal or sketchbook, and everyons's story is a work of art.

4. "I am a 15 year old Freshman at Liberty Center High School. My life consists of cheerleading (I just made the JV squad-I scored high enough to be on the Varsity squad but Freshman aren't allowed to be on it), being a majorette, and school work. I put my heart and soul into cheering and twirling, and do what I have to for school. I wish I had a boyfriend, but I don't really have time for one. Hopefully soon I'll find time!"

Looking back, I realize that I'm still very similar to how I was then. My life consists of riding horses, going to BGSU, and going to Toledo Academy of Beauty. I put my everything into every one of these aspects. I still don't have time for a boyfriend, but I've made time and have been dating him for the past year. I guess some things never change.

image essay #10...texture



Texture is something that is all around us. It is in everything we do, in every aspect of our lives. In this photograph, for example, the tree bark has an amazing and intense texture. Trees are a part of almost everyones life. So this makes you wonder, how much texture am I not aware of in my everyday life? When you look at a beautiful photograph, or painting, or any other piece of art, it helps you to appreciate the texture that is in the composition. Many pieces have texture that looks so real that it makes the viewer want to touch it to see what it feels like. Texture draws you in to the piece and makes it more interesting for the viewers.

The reason I think this photograph is such a great example is because the closeup of the tree trunk causes the viewer to see the texture in great detail. It also allows the viewer to see the precious butterfly that is resting on the tree and allows you to notice its smooth, delicate texture compared to the rough, hard texture of the tree.