Context Piece

Week 3 day 2: Sculpture assignment 2 "Context Piece"

The assignment is to create a sculpture within the context of submitting it to our student art competition/show. With complete freedom to do what I want for this piece, I was originally stumped. I asked myself many questions before I came to the right ones.

"Do I have a message to send? What do I stand for?" and "How do I want to be represented?"

I have in the past tried to do pieces involving media's skewed view of beauty. How many women (such as myself) wake up in the morning only to be disappointed with what they see in the mirror. Sadly most of America has women tied to their reflection and cannot see themselves as beautiful. There was my message...but how would I get it across?

Thinking of many ideas and sketching one out, I found that I was telling the viewer everything, hardly leaving room for the viewer to interpret. So I took a step back and remembered a sculpture I once found on the Internet. Alice through the Looking Glass by Jeanne Argent located in Guildford's Castle Grounds. The sculpture modeled Alice after her daughter Anne and installed it in 1990. Although I didn't want my sculpture to go through glass, it gave me an idea.

I sketched out a concept of a woman being pulled back through a mirror. I thought this would piece would give the viewer more room to create their own interpretation, at least better than my original concept. I continued looking to see if anything could inspire me. That's when I came across Andy Wright's "Perceivance". Although it doesn't change my design, it's an image I'll more than likely come back to through out the process of create this assignment.

William Kentridge

Week 3 Day 1: William Kentridge

"What hasn't this man done?"

I was dumb founded when selecting William Kentridge who I wanted to do research on. Originally I thought his form of animation was fascinating and wanted to learn more about his charcoal drawings and how they develop into films. Now as I continue to read I find Kentridge has filled his life with many creative projects.

In 1955 William Kentridge was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. He earned his Bachelor degree in Politics and African Studies at the University of Witwatersrand located in Johannesburg, South Africa. Then trying his (very successful) hand to visual arts he attended Johannesburg Art Foundation. Later in the early 1980's he traveled to Paris, France where he studied mime and theatre at L'Ecole Internationale de Theatre Jacques Lecoq. Using everything he has learned Kentridge has applied Politics into his art, making statements in animation, performance, drawings and more.

In 1998 Kentridge staged his first opera, and not just any opera, a highly detailed puppet opera. Telling the story of The Return of Ulysses. One of his most recent projects was The Magic Flute (Link )featured at Broooklyn's Academy of Music in 2007. Kentridge was not only the director, but he also designed costumes and sets for the performance.

I would have to say that one of my personal favorites of his animation would be Automatic Writing (Link). Although this film's narrative in not linear, I appreciate how it's interactive for the viewer, allowing the viewer to choose the story. There is no doubt in my mind that Kentridge will give us more years of creativity and performance.

Joseph Cornell and Eadweard Muybridge

Week 2 Day 2: Joseph Cornell and Easweard Muybridge

Comparison between Joseph Cornell and Eadweard Muybridge and how their artwork can be considered "book like"

A book is a collection of words or images in relation to each other and are organized in a sequence. There is a beginning, middle and end. We often enjoy a good story book or (if your like me) enjoy getting lost in the elaborate illustrations of a picture book.

Yet, my 4-D class instruction widen my perspective of a book. Take away the object or item of a book we would find in the library and you are left with "collection, relationship, and sequence". Joseph Cornell and Eadweard Muybridge both emerge their art in collection, relationship and sequence.

Joseph Cornell (1903-1973) grew up and lived most of his life in Queens,New York. He spent time making discoveries in small object or relics found in flea markets and junk shops. Then creating relationships with these relics by putting them together in various compartments or boxes. In the 1930's Cornell was influenced by Surrealism artist Max Ernst calling it 'the Max Ernst white magic side' of Surrealism compared to the more violent and dark side of Surrealism. Joseph claimed that the closest he ever got to the violent side was when he occasionally cracked the pane of glass in his box. Other than that he strayed away from the erotic or fantasies that most Surrealists exhibited. He viewed the glass pane as a the means of separation between two contrasting worlds. One outside world filled with chaos, and accidents, while the second inside world was peaceful and filled with memories.

Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904) became one of San Francisco's most important landscape photographers. Brought to the attention of Leland Stanford, he was hired to take a photograph in order to settle a debate: Was there ever a moment in a horses run (gait) where all four hooves are off the ground? Muybridge accepted the challenge in 1872, and six years later with 12 cameras he was successful in capturing the moment when all four hooves are off the ground at the same instant. Once these pictures went public, Muybridge was internationally famous. Later in his career at the University of Pennsylvania he produced thousands of images relating to the frame by frame movement and capturing motion of man and beast. Although science was surrounding Muybridge's project at the University(which to his credit he encouraged), Eadweard thought of himself primarily, an artist.

Cornell's art is based off of 'found imagery' finding the beauty in the trinkets and placing them together creating both a collection and creating relationships between the objects or images he found. There is not a set out line of sequence in Cornell's boxes, but this allows the viewer to take part of the art and explore. Making the art interactive, as the viewer decides for them self a sequence within the box.

Muybridge's photographs are based in and on sequence. The collection of still frames follow one another creating a sequence of motion. There is a clear relationship from photograph to photograph as it is the same subject in a difference pose.

Both of these artist exhibit attributes of a book (the concept, not the object) though completely different in their art. Each having a their own sets of collections that relates to each other in a form of sequence.

Sculpture

Week 1 Day 7: Sculpture

What is Sculpture?

My sculpture art class had an entire discussion of what we should consider or what qualities as sculpture. We looked at both the noun's and the verb's definitions.

Noun: the art of carving, modeling, welding, or otherwise producing figurative or abstract works of art in three dimensions, as in relief, intaglio, or in the round.

Verb: to carve, model, weld, or otherwise produce (a piece of sculpture).

We looked into the intention of the artist or designer. for instance is a chair sculpture or a craft? Our class agreed that if the creator of the chair intended it to be sculpture then it is a piece of sculpture.

Then my instructor posed the question of virtual space in the computer. Could something virtual be considered sculpture? Here we enter the world of grey. Art is already subjective and there is no wrong or right to art, but reading the above definitions we see that is never says that virtual sculpture is sculpture.

I was one of the few in my classroom who said that a virtual piece of sculpture could be considered as a sculpture. I do not make the clay, but I manipulate it to create a sculpture. A computer artist may have made the program of just manipulated the program to create the desired effect. My clay art takes up space in inches or feet, a virtual art piece takes up space in the mega bytes form.

Now it is true that with a virtual piece of art you can only view a 3-D object through a 2-D screen, however what if I take a picture of my clay sculpture and show it to you?

I admit I am torn with this because I openly admit that if the assignment was to make a close to perfect sphere, I used clay while another student used the computer. I would probably be enraged that the hours I spent trying to work with the clay to give me a perfect sphere while the computer already knows the mathematics to give a close to perfect sphere with a couple of clicks with a mouse. Plus virtual art has its own category in the art realm.

I guess I have to agree with what the class agreed on. If the artist intends it to be a piece of sculpture - it is. End of Story. Be it clay, wood, metal or virtual. As long as it takes up space, and is a 3-D object. How it's viewed (photograph or computer screen or in person) is irrelevant. The artist is the creator and decides what its create should be considered.

Just as a side note: My favorite sculpture would be Gian Lorenzo Bernini. His work Rape of Persephone is shown throughout this blog.

Bill Watterson

Week 1 Day 1: Bill Waterson


A brief history on the genius who created Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson. Watterson was born July 5th 1958 in Washington D.C. His father , James G. Watterson attended George Washington University Law School becoming a patent attorney in 1960. At the age of six Watterson's family moved to Ohio where his mother, Kathryn Watterson, became a city council member. In 1997 Watterson's father, James was elected council member who has recently retired in August of 2009 now in pursuit of personal artistic goals. This would explain where some of Bill Watterson's brilliant insight in his comics would come from.

Through out childhood and high school, Bill Watterson was constantly drawing. The mascot of Chagrin Falls High School where he attended was a tiger. Drawing for the school's news paper he often included this tiger in his comics and you can see early signs of Hobbes in the making. In 1980 Watterson earned a Bachelor's degree in Arts in Political Science at Kenyon College. After graduating he was offered a job by the Cincinnati Post drawing political cartoons. During a six month trial period at the Cincinnati Post, Watterson found that the job didn't suit him finding his Editor expecting to much from him. The following four years Watterson designed grocery advertisement before Calvin and Hobbes entered into his life.

Calvin and Hobbes was first published on November 18, 1985. Charles Schulz, Walt Kelly and George Herriman were some of the few that inspired Bill Watterson to create his own comic strip. Calvin and Hobbes is seeing life through the eyes of a mischievous, adventurous boy and his stuffed tiger who through thick and thin, magically comes to life offering words of wisdom or food for thought all wrapped in an easily understood humor for people in all steps of life. As with most cartoonists Watterson incorporates many pieces of his own life into his art, such as his father's lectures on building character or his love for cycling to even his pet cat who inspired Hobbes in personality and form.

I personally own a couple of Calvin and Hobbes books and will periodically read them, laughing at the the circumstances Calvin will get himself into and marveling at the stunning line work and background art. The way Watterson will convey time through panels of his comic strip is seamless. Sometimes just a single panel will illustrate hours of time or hard work captured like a photograph. Others, such as his full page strips give a fantastic sense of movement and space.






When ever I do a comic strip (First Meeting) Bill Watterson does influence me, his narrative style is what inspires me the most. Capturing the plot and storyline in just a few drawings seems effortless and flows naturally for Watterson. Looking at the day to day life in a different perspective where the unappreciated is exciting and simple things become adventures. It's fascinating to me how easily the audience/reader is immediately immersed into the world of Calvin and Hobbes. I keep finding myself asking the same questions in life that Calvin will ask. I deeply appreciate this sort of genius Watterson exhibits, because how many comic strip can handle both being thought provoking, and hilarious?

I want to end this Blog with some of Bill Watterson's quotes that shows how brilliant of a thinker he is and easily shows why Calvin and Hobbes is such a timeless and popular comic strip.

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"Know what's weird? Day by day, nothing seems to change. But pretty soon, every thing's different."

"The world of a comic strip ought to be a special place with its own logic and life... I don't want the issue of Hobbes's reality settled by a doll manufacturer."

"Things are never quite as scary when you've got a best friend."