Self Portrait Reflection

1. Why did you select the inspiration pieces?


2. Why did you select the media to create your self-portrait?
I chose to create my self-portrait with a pencil, so it would be easy to erase any mistakes I made and can redo it. I chose to sketch my portrait from one of my favorite pictures of myself that I recently had taken.

3. What challenges did you face in creating your self-portrait and how did you overcome them?
Drawing facial features was the most challenging with trying to create my self- portrait. I wanted to try and make myself look as realistic as I could, so I had to keep re- drawing my face.

4. How does this piece represent you?
This piece represents me, because its almost exactly how I look, the face is slightly larger than mine, but this is me.

5. What elements and principles of art did you apply in this work?
The main elements and principles that I concentrated on were lines, shapes, shading, and texture The whole piece includes line to give myself (face, shoulders and arms) definition. The lines and shading also added texture to my hair and my shirt. The shading helps add texture to my hair, showing individual hairs and direction/ flow of my hair.


6. Did you enjoy working on this project?
I did enjoy working on this project. It was interesting to actually have to look carefully at details of myself and things I wanted to include in the drawing.


7. What do you think of your final artwork?
Im actually very surprised with my final artwork. After re- doing it a feel times, I was able to get it the way I wanted it to look. I was surprised at my drawing skills when I actually had to try.

Critic's Report- Project 5 blog

1. Which projects did you review?

I reviewed "Full figured" by Nicholas Sessanna.

2. Why did you select the Exhibit you critiqued?

I selected this exhibit to critique because out the few I chose to consider, I enjoyed the meaning and theme behind this presentation. It was a unique topic to choose.

3. What challenges did you face in writing the critique article and how did you overcome them?

While writing this critique I was not sure how to start, and what things to concentrate on. Once I explained why I chose the exhibit, and why I enjoyed it, the ideas of things I wanted to say started to flow out.

4. How do you feel about critiquing your peers work?

I think critiquing peers work is a great thing. I enjoyed being able to really look at someone else's work, and analyze why they chose and did the things that they did, and also how they differ from what I did. Everyone interprets things differently and I have seen many variations between different exhibits. This makes everything more interesting to see, and makes me want to see more.

5. Would you like to read the critique your peers wrote about your Art Curation Project?

I would love to read what my peers wrote about my Art Curation project. I enjoyed creating the project and I put a lot of time into it, so it would be nice to see what other people have to say, and even get feedback and ideas on things I could have changed or done differently because there are plenty of ideas I did not come up with it that I saw in my peer's projects. It is nice to get others perspectives on things, thats how we learn and grow.

6. On a scale of 1-10 how would you rate your finished article and why?

I would rate my article at a 9, because I feel I did a good job at explaining things that I really enjoyed throughout the project, and I also gave him some advice on things that I would have liked to see as a viewer.

7. Did you enjoy working on this project?

I did enjoy working on this project. I learned a lot in a short time. I learned many new artists and styles. I also learned about critiquing, and how difficult it can be to be a critic and explaining your ideas on paper.

AED 200 Course Reflection

1. My expectation from the first week was that the class would teach me how to look at an art piece and be able to interpret it and understand the history behind the artwork. My expectations were definitely met.
2. I originally posted "art is esthetically pleasing to the viewer's eye, and can be an expression of one's thoughts and emotions. I still agree and like the way I defined art.
3. My favorite artist was Vincent Van Gogh, I do still enjoy his work. However my new favorite artist is Pablo Picasso. I was able to see a lot more of his work and I even used one of his pieces in my project 4 presentation.
4. I like taking online courses. I liked that I was able to work on my own pace to a certain extent. From my first post, I did not know what to expect from online classes to compare.

Project 4- Reflection of Process

I created this project by going on askART and I was able to click a topic and then further click sub-topics. I found modernism and then found the sub-group Nude painters. Nude painters jumped out at me, since I always seen a ton of paintings with nude people. I also wanted to choose something different than most people. From askART I was able to see a list of painters who have done nude paintings. Then I went onto CAMIO where I was able to search Nude painters where a ton of results came up. From there I chose paintings that appealed to me between both of the sites. Once I had all of my paintings chosen, I started to work on my powerpoint. I played around with different backgrounds. I wanted a plain background with a neutral color so it would not draw attention away from from the artwork. I can not really explain how I chose to order the paintings. I just moved them around until I liked where they were. I hope you like the final result!

Week 14/15 Video Blog

Video 1- The Lowdown on Lowbrow:West Coast Pop Art
1. This video talks about lowbrow artwork. It discusses different parts of lowbrow and the times in history that had a large influence on it.
2. The video did not really relate to my art exhibition project. Lowbrow is all over the place and unorganized with different themes. My project is one theme and all goes together.
3. From this video, I learned something new; I learned what lowbrow is and its influences however I do not feel like it added to my understanding for creating my project.

Video 2- Displaying Modern Art: The Tate Approach
1. This video talks about how museums used to be set up and how it started to change in the 1970s. It talks about Tate's thematic approach to displaying art.
2. This video did relate to my art exhibition because we have to set it up as if it were in a museum and I feel this gave me better insight and a different aspect to look at.
3. This video showed me more about museums and things to think about for setting up my project.

Video 3- Bones of Contention: Native American Archeology
1. This video talks about the question to whether Native American remains that were found should be returned to their ancestors or not. It talks about David Van Horn, Susan Harjo, new laws like Grave Protection and Repatriation Act, the value of research and the tension between scientist, historians, museum curators and Native American groups.
2. This video did not really add to my project because it discussed more of Native Americans than actual art exhibitions.
3. It really did not add to my understanding for creating my project.

Video 4- George Eastman House: Picture Perfect
1. This video shows curators and archivists at Eastman's colonial revival mansion and how it is the oldest photography museum in the world.
2. The video related to my project in the fact that it shows inside the museum in the mansion and how it looks and is set up.
3. Other than me being able to see inside the museum, I really didn't find it useful for my project. I found it interesting but I wouldnt use any of the information for my project.

Art Gallery #2

I went to the Burchfield Penney Art Gallery. I used my cell phone camera with no flash to take the pictures.

The Exhibition:
1. I did not see a title of the exhibit.
2. I also could not tell if there was a specific theme with the exhibition.

The Gallery
1. I do not know how to describe the lighting in the gallery. They were pretty bright and mostly arranged along the sides pointed at the pictures, and if there is a display in the middle a light is facing that direction.

2. The walls were mostly white in the main gallery. There was one room that had gray walls.

3. Within the art gallery there were half walls to divide of the open floor plan. There were benches within the rooms to sit down.

4. The floor plan set up a pretty smooth movement, it flowed in one direction to lead you through the gallery.


The Artwork

1. The artwork was setup in a certain way. The room had groups of drawings with paintings dividing them. On one wall there is a group of similar works from the same artist and then another group of similar drawings on the opposite wall, with a Large colorful painting dividing the two groups up. It similar on the other side of the room; there were two similar pictures and there was one Large colorful painting dividing them.

2. The artworks that were similar were all drawings with charcoal. Then paintings that divided the drawings were all similar, they used bright colors and were large.

3. The artworks were all still different. They all had different themes and subject matter within them.

4. All of the artwork had different frames. Some had layered large frames, where others only had frames along the side so you could barely tell there was even a frame on the drawings and paintings.

5. All of the paintings were identified by the artist, date and how it was created. Some artwork also included the goal the artists was aiming for with the piece.

6. The artwork were not equally spaced. They were not close to each other but not too close. Some were farther apart than others depending on shape and sizes.

Art Criticism

1. The first piece of work was called Lil Hardin and Louis Armstrong in 1927 by Theresa Bernstein. It was created by oil on canvas. With this painting, the artist uses colors, texture and emphasis to create the atmosphere. There are a lot of people within the painting and they are enjoying music together. The trumpeter is blowing a horn releasing a golden bubble of sound.I think the artist was trying to show a group of people enjoying music together and the power of music.

2. The second painting is called Blues for Charlie Parker, 1988 by Sam Scott. It was created with acrylic on canvas. This painting uses color, lines and texture to create this painting. This is a fun painting with the use of colors. It reminds me of the special paper that crayola created that creates a rainbow underneath black color to create designs.

3. The third art piece that drew my attention was Devil's Hole 1985 by Robert Lyall Flock. He created this piece with an oil stick, graphite and pastel on paper. He uses lines, colors, and shapes to create this painting. I feel he is creating the water crashing from the falls and how the light refracts from the water causing a rainbow. He makes you hear the thunder roar in which devil's hole was named.

Final Question:
By looking at the gallery with a different perspective, trying to look at the physical space, architecture and themes made the experience more interesting. It gave me something more to concentrate on that I probably wouldn't have concentrated on and those are all aspects that shape in experience with out people realizing it. Everything is set up strategically to make it more enjoyable for the patron.

Week 12- Video Blog

Matisse and Picasso

1. I chose this video because I enjoy Picasso's work and wanted to learn more, and I also did not know a lot about Matisse.
2. This video talks about the relationship between Matisse and Picasso. The video emphasizes both artists collection and the lives of both artist.
3. This video gave me a better understanding of the times and examples of both Picasso and Matisse's work.
4. I enjoyed this video. I was able to see artwork from both artist that I have never seen before.

Dance at the Moulin de la Galete

1. I chose this video because it sounded interesting.
2. This video discussed Renoir's life and discusses his idealism with his real life of poverty and radicalism that explains how he created this piece.
3. This video added to the text by discussing more information about Renoir.
4. I liked watching this film. I found it very interesting and gave me a personal idea about Renoir's life.

Dada and Surrealism

1. I chose this video because the Dada movement and Surrealism interest me.
2. This video discusses the Dada movement and how it changed into Surrealism and how it affected the change in art by giving examples of pieces from Europe.
3. This video gave me a better understanding of both of these movements supplementing the text with examples of artwork.
4. I found the art pieces very interesting and I now better understand surrealism.

The Impact of Cubism

1. I chose this video because while reading the text, the topic of Cubism sparked my interest.
2. This video discusses Cubism and how it influenced Europe. It discusses how it offered nonclassical ways to represent form and space.
3. This video gave me a better understanding of What Cubism is and how it changed art within Europe.
4. This video showed me a new type of artwork that I did not know or understand. I enjoyed this video and found it very informational and interesting.


I enjoy watching these videos, They all give me a better understanding by being able to see real life during these times.