Stephanie Pui-Mun Law

Stephanie's work is very intriguing, and I first saw her work online. She is an illustrator, and does a lot of her work in either watercolor or ink drawings. Most of her work is mythical or of the "fairytail" type. But this is not why I find her work so interesting, but her technique and style is what I really admire. She has a way of controlling color and line, and it comes out to be gorgeous. Her work, I believe, has a light air to it, that makes you feel so bubbly and child-like. And this image(Jade Hills)> really reminds me of a more modern and lighter Starry Night, with the colors and the vibe that comes off of it, like calmness.

So to me, her techniques reflect a more traditional style, while she puts her own emotions and a uniqueness that appears to be unmatchable.

http://www.shadowscapes.com/image.php?lineid=16&bid=516

Muertos Collection.

Okay first off - sorry this is late. I've been sick all weekend. I'm still battling a migraine now.

Tonymash is my subject of choice. There's a number of artworks I love and his style, to me at least, is unique in its own way. It's very dark but very beautiful. All of his works have a signature graphic design detailing to them that brings forth a great deal of emotions, which vary from piece to piece. I've known of his work for some time, though I have recently seen it pop up in commercial stores such as Hot Topic. He is definitely one of my more favorite artists and I am always excited to see what he turns out next. The piece pictured here isn't one of his more infamous designs, but it is very beautiful nonetheless. The recurring theme in all of his images have to deal with the Day of the Dead, or Dia de los Muertos, hence the many tattoos and the accentuation of skeletal mouths on each being. He is also a figurine artist with several statues and statuettes with a similar theme.

Image - Vamp.
Digital Media.
Tonymash. 2009

+ Meahgan Wood

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMUgfiesTuw

Evan Baden, a CVA alumni, has a series called Illuminati that fascinates me. I love the alternative lighting technique. The blue ghostly wash over these images is so familiar to us that it doesn't connect that this lighting is not what we truly look like, which ties right into his theory that we have no idea what its like to not be connected. It gives me a familiar feeling but ghostly and soothing. I honestly can't tie it to any other work that I can think of except for the images in my head from playing my gameboy at the "ungodly" hours of the night. I truly have to think of all the times that I see myself in this situation and then try to think of times when I couldn't put myself in that situation. When I think of times when I wasn't "connected" I remember feeling ghost vibrations of my phone ringing and wondering where the blue light of my iPod is.

chuck..

Evan Baden. Illuminati Series. C-3 Print. 2007.
College of Visual Arts Library. Image from Instintoguapo.com.

Cardboard Houses

David Lefkowitz, Improvised Structures,
2003-05

Images from:
www.dcktcontemporary.com/exhibition/view/578

David Lefkowitz's exhibit is currently displayed at the Weisman Art Museum, where I saw it for the first time last Wednesday. It was created using watercolor and pencil on corrugated cardboard. Seeing it in person is amazing; one of the peices is about 8x12 feet and comprised of several carboard boxes arranged together with one image painted throughout.

"Lefkowitz highlights the nature of how we see and experience our built environment," is written on the plaque titling his work. The use of carboard boxes really brings out the fundamental shapes used in modern-contemporary architecture. It seems to make a statement about how we are going back to the basics in design; beautiful work has recently been composed of clean meticulous lines, not a lot of detail. Lefkowitz uses the straight lines in the piece to really bring out the character of the homes, and shades to create a focal point, drawing your eyes to the image. It remends me of reading Dwell.

-Marina Sharp

New Guest Blogger...

Greetings fellow bloggers. Nice work on your first posts... If you haven't yet finished this assignment, no worries, but I will be looking forward to reading them all by Tuesday morning. There's still time to go see some local art/design and write an interesting review of it on our blog.  There's so much new work to see in our own backyard right now...if it's CVA faculty work you're looking for, next week is your last chance to see both the Hang up and Shoot Photo Biennial at Concordia College (featuring FND faculty Michelle McCreery and another unnamed artist ...) as well as work by Fine Arts Chair Val Jenkins in Ordinarily Here at the Weisman Art Museum, an exhibition that explores how place can re-contextualize objects found in common experience (think- postmodern strategy...)  If you find yourself in Duluth this weekend, Drawing faculty Amy DiGennaro's work is featured in You and Yours: Images of Family at the Tweed Museum, and you won't want to miss the Hatch Design; Thinking Outside the Nest exhibition in our very own CVA Gallery.  
We will be carpooling to Midway Contemporary Art next week to tour Los Angeles-based artist and curator Karthik Pandian's installation Before the Sun.  Be sure to check out information about his installation (and the film series he's curating in conjunction with the exhibition) before we go so you can approach the installation and your 2nd Blog Post assignment with a little research under your belt.  And don't forget to bring your Visual Resources Archives to class so we can take a look at all your wonderful journals before we go.
So have a great weekend, see plenty of art, and remember to read Barrett Ch. 3 Describing Art!
cheers...

First Post.

Checking in.
Sean Guidera, Sect. D.

Weisman Art Museum-Frank Gehry

  The Weisman Art Museum was planned out by gesture drawings of Frank Gehry for three years, before built in November of 1993.  It is located near the Mississippi River and the University of Minnesota campus.  The museum is made of brushed stainless steel and terra-cotta colored brick.  Frank Gehry has made many memorable buildings, which are seen in Asia, North America, and Europe.  The Vitra International Furniture Museum in Weil am Rheim, Germany is a great building that has distincted his work from any other buildings.  The Weisman looks much like this building, which gives me the feeling he took the ideas from the Vitra International to design The Weisman.  A lot of Frank Gehry's buildings are thought out and planned by the location, where the building will be placed in nature, what other buildings around it look like, the use of the building and how it relates to the city and natural world surrounding it.  He likes to give three different categories to follow through with the design of the buildings: how they'll blend in, how they'll reflect the area, and how the building will contrast the area, which the Weisman does all three.  Frank Gehry had the intent of the building being noticed, and it did that when it first had gotten built.  When the building first opened, a total of 7,000 people showed up.  A lot of people refer to the Weisman as a "frozen waterfall," which portrays Frank Gehry very well, he loves ice hockey. 

 The Weisman always gives me a great feeling as passing it or entering it.  It's very exciting with all the different shapes, all the rectangles, triangles, curved and varied angles.  I love how one side blends in with the city's buildings around it, and the other side seems as though a sail boat off Mississippi River, which a lot of people also thought of this.  I also love how the artist made a building for seeing art.  Frank Gehry has so many great buildings throughout the world I'd love to go see, including his house, which is almost as crazy with angles and shapes as the Weisman.


Frank Gehry. Weisman Art Museum. Brushed stainless steel and terra-cotta colored bricks. 1993.
<www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/weisman_art_museum.html>

Deeparture

This piece is displayed in the Walker Art Museum, a film called Deeparture by Mircea Cantor. This piece interests me because of the interesting foreground and background composition and the behavior of the animals in the film. The minimalistic setting is does not distract from the detail of the animals. I think the artist was trying to describe the relationship between these animals by separating them from their natural environment leaving only the tension between them. I feel this piece is successful because the message of the film is very clear.

Mircea Cantor, Deeparture , 2005
16mm film transferred to DVD (color, silent)
T. B. Walker Acquisition Fund, 2006

http://visualarts.walkerart.org/detail.wac?id=5747&title=Current%20Exhibitions&style=images

Chuck Close at the Walker

This is Chuck Close's Big Self Portrait, I saw this piece at the Walker Art Center and it really spoke to me. It reminds me of old photo. The contrast used in this acrylic painting is really intriguing, as well as it's large scale (107 1/2 x 83 1/2inches). It's interesting to me because Chuck Close is very well known for his block, hyper-realism portraits, where he uses the length of his fingers as a sort-of pixel size. Although, this portrait is much more detailed.

If Close had any intention with this I believe it would have to do with unkept realistic lifestyle. He isn't trying to glamorize anything, it's very honest.

Chuck Close, Big Self Portrait. 1968. Acrylic on canvas.
Walker Art Museum.
Image from Walker Art Center
http://calendar.walkerart.org/canopy.wac?id=5306

by Gabriel Moreno from Madrid

Illustrator, engraver and painter

graduated of Fine Arts in the U of Sevilla in '98

His designs are widely used from many agencies. The artwork is found in a lot of ads featured in magazines like vogue.

The way that he makes the multiple images flow together is quite interesting. It's beautiful how he makes the women so realistic but image as a whole is very surreal.

inkbutter.com/the-art-of-gabriel-moreno

Hey look i finally did it!

© ANNIE LEIBOVITZ, COURTESY NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

Nicole Kidman, New York, 2003

"The Trembling Fires of Dreams"

The Trembling Fires of Dreams
Resin, Enamel, Yarn
60" x 60" x 120"*
Los Angeles, 2010
Courtesy of www.deviantart.com

This piece, entitled 'The Trembling Fires of Dreams' (placed in a Los Angeles art gallery) was constructed by an artist whom calls himself, 'El-Woopo'. Like most of El-Woopo's pieces, The Trembling Fires of Dreams ignites a sense of hunger and innocence, balanced gravely with a passionate polarity of good and evil.

Sculpted with products of resin, enamel and yarn, the piece is clean cut while using space wholly and significantly. The fact that a faint light sits calmly on the white deer placed in the middle is only a focal point for a second - then your eyes move towards the two circling it, even though they remain in the corners and have darker yarn.

I love this piece because of the placement and use of the subjects. The deer is a very innocent, yet bold animal, and a symbol that can represent many times 'good' and positive energy. The hounds that circle it suggest their intentions of destroying this pure form of energy - yet, the yarn and light placed strategically poses the idea that the deer cannot be harmed.

Good stuff.

Vampiric Battle- Tony Oursier

Tony Oursler uses modern technology to allow the viewer to step into a completely different world, a world of ruined faces, obsession over body image, and losing ones identity. He uses video to show a taboo subject threw the eyes of plastic surgery addicts. His larger then life scale makes a bold and frightening statement. I have personally seen his work in person. The faces are hunting, and many do not look human. As you walk into this large black room you feel almost in a dream-like state, the voices are disembodied and what they are saying is unclear. Oursler has tapped into the idea of losing ones identity to pop culture. This piece is both disturbing and thought provoking. Walking threw this is shocking and amazing. I feel the artiest has taken the idea of plastic surgery to another level. His work is controversial, bold, and to some offensive.

Tony Vampiric Battle, 2009

video, steel, digital prints, foam board.

The Mattress Factory.

Image from:

http://www.mattress.org/index.cfm?event=ShowArtist&eid=93&id=468&c=Past

Contemporary artwork

Alec Soth

American, b. 1969

Fondation Pierre Berge and Yves Saint Laurent, Moujik IV, Paris,

2007

Pigmented Ink Print, Weinstein Gallery

-part of a current exhibition at the Minnesota Institute of Arts

I see a man and a purebred dog in a luxurious and large room with a lot of green tones. It reminds me of white, upper class society and it reminds me of money and power because of the green tones. It makes me feel isolated and agitated because there is only a man and a dog in this large room. Also it depicts a purebred dog sitting in a luxurious chair and it makes me angry that this dog can sit in this place of luxuries when so many will never get the chance to. I think the artist is trying to point out the imbalance of wealth in America. His whole series at the MIA depicts rich white men, large rooms of houses, and the objects which are considered valuable to wealthy people.

Trisha Brown

Trisha Brown is a brilliant artist and dance choreographer who rose from the post-modernism era. While most of her work is involved with dancing and movement, she also transfers her body and actions onto paper, and is featured in the Walker Art Center.

I have often talked of dipping my hair and body into ink and then drawing/painting, so when I discovered her I fell in love quickly.

My favorite Trisha Brown pictures feature her literally dragging, stamping, and sliding her body along the paper as she works, combining physical movement and dance with making pictures on paper. The end result is highly emotional and fluid.

I feel the result is quite successful and beautiful, and I think her goal of "making the perfect dance" is often met. I'd love to stand and flow over her pictures to follow her lines and tracks...

Trisha Brown, UNTITLED (Set One). 2006. Soft-ground etching with relief roll on paper.

Walker Art Center.

Image from Walker Art Center Collections

http://collections.walkerart.org/item/enlarge_fs.html?type=object&id=12609&image_num=1

Phil Hansen - Value of Blood

Internet Sensation Phil Hansen has been called a "modern pointillist" even though this piece represents that a lot of his other work doesn't. Hansen is a Eden Prarie resident who works at Regions Hospital as an X-ray tech to help pay for is art supplys, and to help gain supplys. In Value of Blood he uses his own blood and band-aids to create a vary powerful image of Kim Jong Il, it took him five months of blood draws to get 500ml to complete it. the size of this piece is massive as well over 6,000 Band-aids were used to create a 44"x104" canvas. Just doing a large red painting of the ruler of china would not have had the same effect as in real human blood. I feel this piece by Hansen conveys a deep message about Communism (Red) and how "the value of blood" is a lot less to communists then Democracys. This is a great Piece and deserves a gallery, but sadly Phil Hansen only has one gallery piece. His work inspires my own work and he is vary unique and super creative with the medium he uses to make art and how he makes it. All his art have videos, which is definitely part of the Art.




Phil Hansen. Value of Blood. Blood and band-aids. 2007.
<http://www.philinthecircle.com/kimjongil.html>
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT9w_-De8JA>

Contemporary Artwork, Beneath the Surface

Rhea Pappas, Beneath the Surface, Photography Icebox Gallery. Image courtesy of minnpost.com

I see here, a really beautiful girl falling upwards, from some antigravity into the water. I see that it is water, but what I really see is antigravity. I really like it, which sounds like a lame statement, but I enjoy looking at it. The composition is interesting, the subject is beautiful, every inch of space is activated, without being over crowded.

I am unsure, however, what it is supposed to say. I feel almost like it's not supposed to convey anything that can be said with words (a very intense down side to criticism), but it's more of an emotion. This picture emotes, it's not a commentary. At this, I think it's very successful. I can feel that delicious combination of serenity, resignation and strangulation. At the same time, It feels calm.

Pappas attended MCAD, and received a fair amount of awards while even still in school. She is just out of college, and the gallery remarks, "Rhea has the kind of talent that we enjoy and want to promote at Icebox Gallery...". This image is a part of a series of similar images on display at the same gallery.

Alex Pardee

This is an illustration by Alex Pardee. I love this piece because it is descriptive and the fold and skin are not flawless and because of this it is interesting and expressive.

Alex Pardee, Hand Rider. Digital illustration. http://www.thegiantpeach.com/productimages/main/detailed/brands/zerofriends/120809/600_ZeroFriends-8.jpg

Dear Internet and Art School, Hello.

Just posting to say hello.

That is all.

Barbara Kruger, December 7th 2007

She is my favorite artist. I love the way she uses the words and the colors to make you feel intimidated.

Barbra Kruger, "A room with a view"

Mary Boone Gallery, 1991

(http://www.designrelated.com/inspiration/view/KateAndrews/entry/1334/barbara-kruger)

Hi!

Angela from section D in the house!

This is a graffiti piece by Banksy on the Israel-Palestine Wall. I love his artwork because it is in compromising areas and expresses the problems going on there.

Banksey. Spray paint.

Israel-Palestine Wall.

Image from A Symposium About Walls

http://www.salsa.net/peace/walls/wotdarchives.html

Hello

This Jeremy from section D...
And I say hello

Good Afternoon

I'm present. Section D represent.

hi

.

First Post

Checking in.

Sarah Lerum

Blog post #1!

I visited the Minneapolis Institute of Arts on Saturday, September 17th and saw “Portraits of the Locksley Shea Gallery” by Andy Warhol. When I looked at it, what is obvious is that there are two sets of portraits, 2 in each set, each displaying the same picture of a person but in a slightly different way through a silkscreening process with different colors.

It reminds me of a comic or cartoon because of the panels and bright colors, and the realism adds to the sense of comedy, but it also gives me as the viewer the slightest bit of an unnerving feeling. The colors are “happy” colors, but serious demeanors of the subjects clash. I think that Andy Warhol, though he is a friend of the subjects, is trying to be a little ridiculous. For example, on the top two pictures, the figures have streaks of blue over their eyes which, to me, look like “whore-ish” make-up. His marks looks professional and intentional, but it all seems comedic, if only slightly.

Andy Warhol. Portraits of the Locksley Shea Gallery. 1975. Syntheric polymer paint silkscreened on canvas.

Minneapolis Institute of Art.

Image taken by me 17 September 2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMUgfiesTuw

Evan Baden, a CVA alumni, has a series called Illuminati that fascinates me. I love the alternative lighting technique. The blue ghostly wash over these images is so familiar to us that it doesn't connect that this lighting is not what we truly look like, which ties right into his theory that we have no idea what its like to not be connected. It gives me a familiar feeling but ghostly and soothing. I honestly can't tie it to any other work that I can think of except for the images in my head from playing my gameboy at the "ungodly" hours of the night. I truly have to think of all the times that I see myself in this situation and then try to think of times when I couldn't put myself in that situation. When I think of times when I wasn't "connected" I remember feeling ghost vibrations of my phone ringing and wondering where the blue light of my iPod is.

chuck..

Evan Baden, The Illuminati Series. 2007. C-Print.

College of Art & Design Library

Image from istantoguapo.blogspot.com. 23 September 2010.

Charles and Ray Eames

This is a fiberglass rocking chair designed by Charles and Ray Eames, between 1948-1952. It is one of my favorite pieces of art, because of the clean lines and the way you can see the fiberglass texture through the smooth finish.

-Marina Sharp

Charles and Ray Eames, fiberglass rocking chair. 1948-1952

Micheal Rosenfeld Gallery

Image from Artstor.org Fall 2003

Mucha - Stars

I have always been a fan of Mucha's style and technique, this is probably due in part to my interest in lithography. I have always found Mucha’s prints to be nothing short of fascinating, and I think that Stars is no exception. The thing that I find most intriguing about this piece (and many of his other pieces) is his use of line. I love the consistent fluidity that embody them and make them so dynamic. The lines and the poses of the figure complement each other well. The second thing I love about this piece is his use of color, the plate he uses for each different frame fit well for what the star they are conveying. What I find most intriguing is the progression of colors has a sort of cycle to it. In the first panel, the colors are darker and resemble a night sky more so than the next two. In the second and third panel, the major palates are yellow and green respectively. I find the final panel to be the most interesting, in that, it seems to be a combination of all of the colors. The composition of these is a common trait among other Mucha pieces, and I think it makes it all the stronger. The way these are positioned shows the progression of stars, in that it begins with the morning star, and then ends with the moon. In all, this is yet another of many beautiful works by Mucha’s, and it fails to disappoint.

http://www.richbillig.com/mucha/images/the%20stars1.gif

"bow, bow, bower, ower, bower"

This is a piece by Diane Willow up at the Weisman. pieces of bamboo are held together with zip ties to create a sort of tunnel. There are also patches of grass and moss on the ground periodically underneath the bamboo structure along with wires connected between an electricity source and some small bells that would vibrate the bells and create a sound like a rainforest bird or something. I think the most exciting thing about this piece for me is how the materials work together with size and sound to create a feeling of being in a totally different place than where the viewer actually is. I am so interested in art that is able to do that; that is able to take the viewer to a place either from his memory or his imagination. it was interesting to see this because we just finished discussing structures like this in 3D. It was interesting to see the same concept in real life art.

Diane Willow, "bow, bow, bower, ower, bower" , Installation piece at the Weisman Art Museum, photo courtesy of the Weisman Art Museum

Hello, Hello.

Carrie Haskin from Section A checking in.

For Blog Post #1, I want to focus on Guillermo Kuitca. I went to many museums and galleries and saw many pieces of work this week, but one of his pieces just keeps shaking around in my head. The image is pretty large and it was placed well above head height so you're eye to eye with the middle of the painting. It is a dark, dark, almost black, blue piece with great depth that gives a feeling of looking through something. The subject painted on this blue pool of a canvas is of a floorplan for a modest apartment. A couple of rooms, some closets, nothing extravagant, nothing to sway your emotions one way or another. It's just a floorplan on a midnight blue canvas.

But then you see it. There are very faint lines that curve, and as you step back, they become long, thin teardrops running down the face of the canvas. Now, well now this piece could mean anything, make you feel a million feels. So much is being said with a few teardrops. Is this the first apartment of a young couple and these are joyful tears? Is this the foundation that remains of a family's only shelter after a terrible storm? What if it is deeper even than that? What if this piece is supposed to trigger an emotional response and connection between the viewer and a home or apartment in their past? As much as a house or apartment is just bricks and nails and drywall, it is also a member of the family.

"If these walls could talk."

That's all I was able to think while standing in front of that canvas.

Guillermo Kuitca - House Plan with Tear Drops, 1989

Image from: media.walkerart.org

Postmodern artwork

ALL THAT IS BEAUTIFUL BEN SHAHN 1965 hand-colored screenprint on paper Object Details Dimensions: sheet 26 x 38.875 x inches Inscriptions: in brown crayon front BC "Ben Shahn" Classification: Prints; Edition Prints/Proofs Physical Description: A black and white screenprinted city skyline with hand-colored additions. Printed vertically in the sky is the following text "All that is beautiful. But for remembrance' sake. The art of Pheidias." Owner: Walker Art Center Accession Number: 2010.36 Credit Line: Gift of Miriam and Erwin Kelen, 2010

Ben Shahn’s work “All That Is Beautiful” represents itself as a postmodern piece in a few distinct ways. Like critics and postmodern artists themselves say, this genre of art focuses on the background of the piece, the culture from which it originated rather than the piece itself. In “All That Is Beautiful”, a viewer can surmise that the work represents a city that the artist either lived in or worked in. In the city during the time of the work’s creation, there was construction growing over the older buildings (cathedrals for example). Because the screenprint is simple in its details, it makes the purpose of the work more focused on what the city is about rather than the craft of the piece or the techniques it applied. I think this work fits all the attributes of a postmodernist painting because it relies more on the subject, background and message than the craft of the work.

Addie Elling Thursday Sept. 23rd

Hey! so this is my first post, thanks for the easy instructions barb. im brand new to this blog thing...

"The Studio" by: Larry RIvers

The Studio

Larry Rivers

1956

image courtesy of ARTstor

Larry Rivers: saxophonist, poet, and painter. Rivers was a man in search of a way to make a modern history painting. In 1956, Rivers accomplished his goal in creating the painting, "The Studio". This large scale painting embodies movement throughout the piece by the use of color and space. The figure in this piece conveys a very primitive energy, perhaps due to the figure being in a different color than what was considered to be the norm. Up until this point, most pieces of art conveyed the figure as being pale, so Rivers was taking a large leap in the other direction by showing a figure in a different tonality. This painting can now publicly be seen at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

a place near you...

Well, since many of you are too good at googling, I have decided to post a photo this week.

First one to identify the location wins the art junk prize. Good luck and happy posting!
See you soon.........

¡Hola Todos!

hello. here is my post. see y'all in class later

Homage to an Eccentric Mind.

Yep. That's right. This is Meahgan Wood from section A. Yet another blog has the rantings of this artist, and it's even on the web. A rather scary thought, no? Well, that's an argument for another day. Sorry it took me so long to get here. My life is in a sort of upheaval, still, so organization is slowly working its charm at last. There will most certainly be more intriguing posts of mine later on, as I do like to talk about things. Depending upon what it is.


Toodles for now.


+ Meahgan Wood

Contemporary Art Criticism: "Cigarette"- by Tony Smith.

The piece looks like what the artist titled the piece: a put-out cigarette. I think the craft is very well thought out because the artist took something representational, and in this case, a cigarette, and made it into a geometrical form. I like this piece because when I read the title of the piece, I instantly recalled what a cigarette put-out looks like on an ash-tray- bent. I like how the geometric shape creates different paths for light to enter and wihere there is light, a shadow also occurs, and it creates interesting negative space. I also like the materials used, because in my "tunnel vision" of art do I rarley like sculpture made out of painted steel. Most of the artists work consists of steel sculptures with different shades of paint. I also like the artists work because of his background in the geometric shapes he uses, because of the artists family lineage in factories, and he was always fascinated in the way the machines worked and how they looked. The artist also has "tunnel vision" because of his focus on only geometric shapes with hard corners and simplistic compostion, but it also marks the artists style and voice. Overall I am very pleased with the artists' work because it reflects his perosnal lifestyle and choices as well as a relatable-representational perspective on his pieces.

Tony Smith, Cigarette. 1961 (fabricated 1971). Painted Steel.

The Museum of Modern Art: Painting and Sculpture.

Image from artstor.org

http://library.artstor.org/library/welcome.html#3|search|1|Tony20Smith|Multiple20Collection20Search|||type3D3126kw3DTony20Smith26id3Dall26name3D

Postmodern standpoint: analyzing " Vis Viva"

I went to a local gallery by my house to the current Exhibition, "Women's Art of Mentoring", or WARM. The piece I analyzed was by Laurie Kigner, called "Vis Viva", graphite on paper.

The image reminds me of a clasic horror movie from a classic Halloween episode, the artist might have even recieved inspiration from such a genre of film. As suiting as the piece may be for a horror movie, the image also emits a surreal and melancholy feel. It sends off mixed emotions of fear and bravery, as well as a dull feeling, yet the image remains intriguing to the viewer, it becomes a love-hate relationship. The birs looks over its backside with its eye in contrastto the rest of its body, it starts a visual connection with the viewer, staring at the viewer fearlessly, yet with some elements of fear as it is not in frontal view, where the viewer might percieve the birs as facing its fear. The texture is realistic as well as the anatomical structure. The pure surreal essence of nature insipred this piece due to the simplicity and delicacy of the bird's texture and how line creates texture, contrast, value, and depth.

Hello

Hello! All =)

Fillup's Hello

Hello!!!

I'm Fillup Leighton and I am in section D!!


I look forward to seeing everyone's critics and posts on our "collective genius" blog!

You are cordially invited...

By now you should all be up and running with your Visual Resource Archive books (aka lab books) and you have checked into the google docs I sent (in case you've misplaced any assignment sheets already).
If you have not yet received an invitation to join the class blog, you will be getting one shortly. To join, simply follow the instructions and you'll be walked through the process of joining and/or setting up a gmail account if you need to. When you are finished, post a simple hello onto the blog and we will all be aboard by class on Thursday, ready for your first in-class posting assignment! (a short critique of work you have seen in the community...remember?)
So come to class prepared to dig into a discussion of Modernism and Postmodernism (Barrett, Ch. 2) and armed with supplies for finishing your lab books. Bring your laptop (if you have one) and/or we will go to the library to work on your Contemporary Artwork post.
And don't forget to soak up a little of the sunshine outside in the meantime!

coptic stitch binding part 2

Basic coptic stitch binding

Simple Japanese Stab Binding book

DIY Japanese Stab Stitch Binding from CuriousDoodles on Vimeo.

Visual Resource Archive

You are by now working on a solution to the design problems involved in making your 5" x 8" Visual Resource Archive (aka lab book...)..
To refresh your memory, this journal will have a symbiotic relationship with your Process Journal: attached to the Journal, it can be removed to carry with you.  The Visual Resource Journal will be made by you for you, a book that you can take along as you go about your day. It will house articles  from your daily life that you find interesting and inspiring  (design, color, texture, font design, etc.). This archive you will be creating this semester will be your very own collection of design resources that you can draw upon as a library of inspiration for your work.
Here are the design problems we identified for this project:

1. What materials would best suit your the requirements of strength and flexibility  (paper, plastic, cardboard, recycled materials (think green!) and reflect your own personal aesthetic as well?
2. What is the design of your journal?  Will it take the form of a  basic sewn pamphlet journal, a Japanese Stab Binding book, an accordion book?
3. How will this book hold your collections: folded between pages, in constructed 'pockets' or pouches?
4. How will the Archive attach to the Process Journal? Will it be on the interior or exterior of your  Journal? What materials will you use to attach it? (velcro, duct tape, buttons...)

Materials to assemble for our next class:
1 . Your ArtBin with pencils, rulers, cutting tools, glue, tape, color materials,  etc
2. Paper, to be cut and sewn or glued together for the pages of the 5 x 8" Visual Archive Journal.  Remember to have enough paper so you can double the page width if you are using a a signature stitch binding..)
3. A cover material of your choice that the pages can be attached to. (paper, plastic, cardboard...)
4. Materials to attach your Archive to your process Journal (velcro, buttons, a glued paper pouch, bring any and all materials you will require to make the book you want.)

There are many resources for bookmaking available to you on the web.  If you're interested in simple sewn signature books like the ones in class, you might want to check out the simple instructional by Handmade News, that includes a folded cover.  You also may find the instructional at D*I*Y and on the Hey Lucy blog helpful, as well.   If you'e interested in investigating Japanese Stab Binding, (very similar but with exposed thread and a more 'square' feel) take a look at Zum Gali Gali Rubberstamps and Jenni Bick Bookbinding.

I will be doing a demo of  a single signature stitched pamphlet and a Japanese Stab Binding book  in class on Thursday. If you're considering either of these types of journals, bring embroidery thread or  waxed thread, twine, etc., ANY sewing material that seems appropriate for your design, along with some large needles if you have them.
In the meantime, make sketches in your notebooks and let the idea gel over the next few days.

Come to class on Thursday prepared to talk about critics, (Barrett, ch. 1) and bring your materials.We will make a book!   

Have a great weekend...

Design for change (and Fun!)

Welcome to your OAD class blog!

I'm honored to write the first post on our blog! It will definitely be a collective experience, as everyone in OAD Sections A and D will be contributing to it. As for the genius part, that will be what we make of it... So let's dig in and begin interacting ...sharing thoughts, ideas, and discoveries as we work our way through your first semester at CVA.
I've been collecting a few thoughts about genius that we might want to ruminate on as we open the door...the first one to post this author's name wins!


I'm not a genius. I'm just a tremendous bundle of experience.

Welcome to Collective Genius!

This is the official  class blog for students in CVA Orientation to Art and Design, Sections A and D.  We will use this site to discuss ideas in contemporary art and design throughout the fall 2010  semester.  Please approach it with open mind, a fresh perspective, and a sense of adventure.