Line and Space

Throughout this week, while learning about line and space, I have been looking at the things around me and relating to how they connect to our learning unit. Although the picture i have posted is not something that i saw this week, it was from my trip to Europe over the summer, but this pictures shows a lot of stacking lines on the stairs. These horizontal lines show a depth of going distance from bottom to top. I have also realized that throughout the day I see uncountable examples of contour lines. These are lines help to suggest volume and/or mass. The past few days I have become very aware of the different lines we have learned this week and also the spacing and vanishing points seen in everyday life. I continue to learn and explore through my everyday encounters.

Controversial Art

I chose to talk about the controversial piece of art, the Vietnam memorial. This piece of art is located in Washington D.C. and was created by a young college girl. After viewing the film A Small Clear Vision on this piece of art I became very interested in the controversy. I was greatly amazed at how many problems this piece of art began. One of the main problems was that this wall was going to be black. Many felt that this color showed dark bad things. Also to add to this upset, people were upset that the wall would be placed underground. Viewers would walk down to see the wall instead of it being a big memorial above ground. Another controversy that made many upset was the fact that the original board to choose this piece of art for the memorial was not constructed with any past Vietnam Veterans. When the piece was chosen veterans began to fight that it was a big black hole, that it didn't have statues like a normal memorial, that there wasn't an American flag, etc. Many were also upset about the fact that the names would be put in chronological order. The designer felt that this was the best and most logical way, but many felt different about this. Many felt that the names should go alphabetical, because it would be easier to find names of people they were looking for. The designer states that if people are there to see a certain name they will take the extra 3 min to go to the finder machine and locate where the name would be located. Another big uproar was not only that the girl that created this was very young, but yet she was also Asian and not a past Vietnam Veteran.

This piece of art did cause a great deal of uproar, but I am happy to see that this piece was eventually approved. The young girl was not trying to cause any problems with this lovely piece of art, she was trying to put effort into something that would be remembered for a life time.
I personally really likes how simple this memorial was. The fact that this war was such a big part of the history in the United States something extreme is not needed to remember the tragedy, but something simple to see the importance of the loved ones who participated in such an important event. Unfortunately, no matter what would have been chosen there would have been some controversy. Everyone had different thoughts on this piece of art, as well as any other piece of art that would have been chosen.

In this unit I learned a great deal of things that I never really put into perspective. I feel that controversial art is impossible to avoid. No matter what any artist draws, paints, sculpts, etc. there will be those people that don't approve of it. I feel that the main pieces of art the are known to be very controversial are some of the most interesting pieces of art to look at, because they cause conversation and questions between people. Every person is going to look at a piece of art differently. One may see a piece of art that makes them feel great inside, but then the person next to them may look at the same piece of art and feel very upset and hurt inside. This experience is going depend on the person and there is no way to avoid controversy in art no matter what the government or anyone tries to do.

Visual Literacy Reflections

This week I learned the terms form, content, representational, abstract, and nonrepresentational. This terms have helped me to view art in a completely different way. I can now look into art in many different ways such as the colors and the lines and the different ways things are placed in certain pieces of art. I also learned that in nonrepresentational art there is still meaning, and even though one cannot tell what is being drawn it is still a way for an artist to show emotion. I have learned to look deeper into various pieces of art and to understand that what is seen is not the only meaning to that piece of art and that every person is going to have their own thoughts about the meaning the piece of art is trying to convey. The only person who knows that true meaning of any certain piece of art is the artist of that piece. I feel that I have learned this unit quite well and I feel that the podcast lectures help to convey the messages to me the best, because I am a visual learner. I don't feel that this unit will give me any troubles.

A World of Art

This painting by Albert Bierstadt is the major work that resulted from the artist's first trip to the west. This photo interested me and caught my eye because i feel that nature is a great beauty. I really began to realize my beauty for nature when i spent a month in Italy, London, and Paris last July. I found myself taking photos of many different areas and tourist attractions. This beautiful photo of The Rocky Mountains is 73 1/2 x 120 3/4 in and is oil on a canvas. The colors are very bright in the area in which that artist is trying to catch someones eye. I feel that this painting also trying to show the traditions of the Indians and how they lived their life. I feel that this painting has a lot of meaning to the artist because of his first trip to the West; I think that this painting was the one thing that really touched him during his journey. The message that I take away from this piece of art is that the artist really want people to know what was going on in the West. I also feel that the artist was making it very clear to viewers that the waterfall is an important feature in this piece of art. In my opinion i feel that this painting is communicating to viewers that life at times is tough, but the light shinning on the waterfall is showing people the happiness of life. People should always look on the bright side of life...

About Me

My name is Kristen and I like to think that I am very outgoing. I love the outdoors and I love to play soccer. This is my first year at college and the first two semesters have been great. I am leaving to go to Cuesta in August and I am VERY excited! I try my best to be creative, but don't have much success... usually. My favorite colors are brown and blue. I love the beach and I love to hangout with my friends and my boyfriend. My boyfriend goes to Cal Poly and I can't wait for him to get home... it has been a long year with him away at school. I am nervous about summer school because I am taking 12 units, but I know that I will be able to make it through. I look forward to this art class and getting to know my other classmates.