Week 13 & 14 Video Review

The video on George Easton was very informative and interesting as photography is a hobby of mine, and I find it interesting to see others compositions and strategy. It was neat to learn the history of the father of the photo. I had no knowledge of the George Eastman House until today, and I would love to tour it. I would love to see the Iwo Jima photograph and all the cameras. I will definitely have photography in my project, as it is one of my favorite subjects of art. Very good film, and I liked the presentation and the narrator wasn’t sleepy. Very good history lesson and cinematography, I was engaged throughout the entire film.



Native American Archaeology was a very enlightening vide, as I have known from history the oppression of the Native Americans, but also they were being exterminated, similar to what the Nazis were doing to the Jews. It’s amazing how hypocritical it can be how we remember the Holocaust, but we do not recognize Genocide in our own country, its ironic the Germans are the same way about the Holocaust. I just can’t believe with how much compassion we have for the Jews, we have a lack of compassion for the American Indians. It’s interesting still how much tension and confrontation there still is with Native American Culture. From what I was able to view of the film I think it’s sad that the Indians still get a lack of respect and are still pushed around.





Displaying Modern art is more complicated than I thought, and seems like there is as much planning involved in displaying the work as there is in creating it. I figured there was quite a bit of planning involved in art, but never knew there was this much detail. It makes sense after watching the video how much careful planning there is, and how important the environment is to the art work and vice versa. They should complicate each other. I am not too interested in Modern Art, so I am not planning to I include it in my project. This video was a little dry for me, but I’m not sure how exciting it could possibly be. It was very interesting to see the transition of modern art from being hung on the wall, to coming off the wall.



I learned what Lowbrow art was. I like the fact that it is reactionary to highbrow art, meaning there is no color scheme, organization, or any kind of format followed. Most Lowbrow artists don’t even like the term, because they don’t label their art. It originated from pictures of hot rods and naked or scantily clad women. After watching this video I would like to look into and maybe include some lowbrow works into my project. This was definitely a cool film, and I liked the lack of dryness and inventiveness in the artists and their work. There were a variety of interesting works and I am interested in learning more of this art form.

Week 12 Video Blog

Hockey used photography to take pictures of things that represented a painting.  E would take the images and cut and arrange them in a manner where it represented a painting.  I like and learned that you could take images and arrange them on a large scale to recreate an art or in Hockney’s mind a painting.  Being a photographer I learned you can create an art out of multiple pictures.  I also learned Hockney invented the Polaroid, something which I don’t remember reading in the text.  I was actually inspired by his form and would like to take on some photo collages myself.

I always thought Andy Warhol was a rich and interesting individual, so I chose to watch a video on him to learn more about him.  From the text I know him as controversial from his ads, to photographing things like race riots.  I learned he favored silk screen because there was literally no work in it at all.  His associates could also duplicate these arts without him.  I learned also how he integrated painting into his silk screens.  It was very interesting to get inside Andy Warhol’s head, and his thought processes behind his works.  I came away with knowing who Andy Warhol was and what he strive to do.  I like how he said, “If you want to know Andy Warhol, simply look at the surfaces of my paintings and arts.” 

Rothko is not an artist I’m very familiar with, so I was interested in watching the video on him.  It was very intriguing hoe he died as his paintings were arriving at a London gallery.  I liked his ideals in that art could save the world. The text did not tell how he defected to the US and its capitalistic ways from Russia, where he was offered a substantial amount of money.  His art was inspiring and proved to be in great demand by the public.  It was interesting to learn he did not appreciate the commissions he received and despised the amount of money that could be made in such a Capitalist society.  I liked how he painted murals for a restaurant hoping to make its diners sick, as he hated the rich.

Isamu Noguchi is very interesting where self expression does not interest him, space, time, and looking for a design or image in an object is what he appreciates.  The text did not infer that his inspiration was from Japanese Gardens, and from this he refers to his sculptures and spaces as gardens.  It’s a place that can only be created with observance and time.  This is the model he used and was very interesting and Zen- like.  I appreciated his water sculptures and their different design and thought processes in creating them.  He used time and observance to envision the different works, and the video was very in depth about his process. 

Week 11 Blog

One of my favorite art "Dada and Surrealism," were shown in this self titled video and is some of the most powerful art statements in my opinion.   I watched this video to see more works and learn more about the artists.  I learned more about Salvador Dali, and I never knew he had a fetish for crutches, and I wondered why they were so prevalent in many of his pieces.  I enjoyed the expansion on Dada's protest artists, and it was more in depth than the book.  I also like the Surrealism art that was picked for the video, and it was interesting again to get inside of a few Salvador Dali works. 


The video "Expressionism" was chosen because it's a form of art I can relate to, and I like the emotion that's tied into it.  I learned about Edward Munch and quit a few of his paintings.  "Ashes" is one that I liked and could understand more once I knew it was about Adam and Eve in modern times.  Understanding the artist intention in the painting brings the emotions in the characters depicted.  The video was more about the artists works than the meaning of Expressionism itself which was given more depth in the text

"Matisse and Picasso," was a video I chose, because I admire these artists and their works, and would like to know more about them.  I learned more about the working habits of Matisse and Picasso, as well as their personality types.  The book did not discuss this much and it was interesting to learn howMatisse was "deliberate and rational " with his thoughts and how he painted, whereas Picasso was a "worker and impulsive," absorbed in his painting.  Very interesting clip and very broad what made these artists tick.  While the book explained tiny bits of cosmetic info on them, this video opened us up to their world.

"Dance at the Moulin de la Galette," is an intricate painting, every space filled and full of activity.  The crowd is dancing and it is hard to believe they have any room to move around there are some many people.  I learned my intuition on the paintings feel is accurate.  He was trying to portray pleasure and emotion, as it was created in a time of oppression, so that is what people needed to feel.  I got a little more background on the artist and his reasoning behind this work.   The book was absent of most of this wealth of knowledge provided in the video.

My Mask

In creating this mask several principles and elements were used.  Lines in the bark show movement while the value in the color of the bark gives texture and depth.  There are many shapes and variety as I integrate technology with the organics of a tree creating a living breathing machine.   I wanted to make a helmet or mask that represented how I feel when ATV offroading in the woods.  The following pictures were used as a guide and inspiration to create an organic race mask.









I love nature, technology and their strange relationship together.  I correlated this into my mask and wanted portray an integration of the two.  This is the mask I wear when I cruising through wooded trails, as I take in the smell of gasoline, the woods and of course the mud! 
I wanted to take the basic shape of a helmet and make it more like a tree.  The organic shell on the outside of my design shows hints of a mechanical inside as an oversized performance motor.

as its parts exit the creature. 

Week 10 Video review

I chose the video Buddhism because I used to practice most of this form of living, and although I don’t fully practice it, I still abide by some of its belief structure.  What I did learn outside of what I already know is that Buddhism is least populated in India itself from where it was created.  I knew it was low, but not the lowest.  I like how this video talked much about the religion and structures like the book, but it showed more locations like Java’s ruins that were covered under ash and the infamous Body tree which was raised from a sappling.  The cinematography was great in the film, the landscapes, and the information collected was very informative and visually stunning.

Hinduism is a religion I’m not too familiar with, and I find religions of different kind similar in many ways, and very interesting.   I found out that Hinduism is about letting go, like Buddhism, but Hindus have many gods.  They believe that after death, we all arrive at the same point.   I learned they do not touch the body of the dead, and they openly and publicly burn the body, so that it may return to the earth and the spirit may go to heaven.  Like Buddhists they believe you can take on another life or be reincarnated if there are attachments or the soul is not pure enough.  I got a little more in depth and personal with the people of this culture.  Something the text just scratched the surface on; the video took me right to the heart of the Hindu culture. 

I don’t know too much about Japanese art, so I watched the “Great Wave”.  It was hard to believe the prints of this beautiful image sold for less than a few noodles.  This is the most well known Japanese art of a tragedy almost 173 years ago.  It is an image widely used from art, cartoons, and even fashion.  The original was a print made by wood blocks, each color was on a separate block forming this beautiful work of art.  I don’t remember this work in the text, and if it was there’s no way it could have given the depth and information the video did.  There was a lot of useful background information on the artist and how he created the work, and the effect it had on him.  I learned more about printmaking with blocks, and understand it more now that I saw some in the process of printing.

I think African art is cool looking and I like the natural elements, so I watched the video on it.  I learned there was a more modern culture in Zimbabwe.  It was considered a great center, and they built a huge stone fortress to protect it.  I was impressed by its greatness and impressive architecture they were able to achieve.  I always thought for the most part early African tribes were primitive in this sense living in huts, but very intricate in their art.  I like how the video took me to these different places in Africa, for a first hand witness of its great presence and history.  The book could in no way do this, or provide the more in depth and learning experience the video did.