Darien

I want to speak about my experiences with Dorchester Academy

I was given the opportunity to not only observe an amazing teacher but to actually run my own class every Wednesday at the Dorchester Academy. The most important part of teaching, I have learned, is preparation. I come an hour before my class with a sheet already printed for each student of the days activities. The print out tells what we will be covering that day and also includes examples of famous works as well as my own. It also includes vocabulary terms and definitions as well as step by step thumb nails. With the hour I have I typically pull out all the art supplies they will need, write down what the agenda on the board and clean up any loose supplies left over from the class before it.

When the students arrive I introduce the activity of the day, so far we have covered sketching, landscape, still life, perspective, and portraits, Then I go over the vocab and some techniques to keep in mind and then show some examples. Then the rest of class is spent with the students working on what I have taught while I go around and help everyone. Some of the students need one on one instead of a whole class discussion to grasp a concept so I like to show them a little bit of both.

The class runs really well most of the time, there have been a couple difficulties which I was able to resolve. Dorchester has only had an art program running for two years, so many of them have no basic art background at all. On the other hand a bunch of them do some type of art on their own or in an out of school art program such as the Saturday studios at MassArt. This means at some points some students are struggling to catch up and some are bored and feel as if the class is too slow. So a solution I came up with was to give a demonstration of a simple project and then show how they can add to it if they have time and think they can. They get the same amount of credit with the simple one as the more complex one so there is no pressure to do something they are not ready for but those who are ready do not get too far ahead. The students were really happy with this idea and so was Chandra.

There were also some big surprises with this experience. One surprise would be how quickly the students opened up to me. They see me and get so excited and ask what we are going to do on that specific day. They also really trust my opinions on how to improve their artwork. And whats more is that they really truly appreciate my being there every week. They come in so ready to learn. Finally, the improvement they have made is remarkable. I am so amazed at how great they are getting! And it is so exciting becaue they only draw on Wednesdays with me, when Chandra teaches she covers other medias so when i see how great they have gotten at drawing i know it was because of me. That is the most amazing feeling.

Here are some pictures of my students and their art:

My video will not load online, it keeps breaking my computer! So i have a dvd copy to hand in during class.

As always,

Darien

At first when I heard we were going to MIT I was thinking isn’t MIT all about science? What could they have there for our class to see? but stepping into the galleries it all began to make sense.

Hans Haacke, 1967

I thought it was really cool reading the blurb on the wall about Haacke because it was unlike any art I have seen before. He states that his art is “neither sculpture nor kinetic”, that they were “systems”. He also said “They have been produced with the explicit intention of having their components physically communicate with each other, and the whole communicate physically with the environment”. I also really enjoyed his idea of the changing of the pieces not being due to the way the viewer moves, that it moves on its own regardless of how we turn about it. He accomplishes this with wind, water, gravity, and growth.

Some of my favorites included:

Wide White Flow

I was completely mesmerized by this piece, I sat on the side of it for a good twenty minutes watching the waves go up and down like the ocean. It was so peaceful and calming. first I watched one section going up and down, then I had my eyes start at the base and follow one wave until it got to the end. Then I watched the edges to see when it would float above the ground and when it would touch, all of these views brought something new to the experience. I also think white made the mood calm, if it was stripes or something it would show more chaos. This was definitely my favorite.

Here is the link to watch it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=MqusI38gBF8

White Waving Line

I also really enjoyed this piece, for its simplicity. It moved so fast and reminded me of fire. I liked watching the abstract shapes it created as well.

Otto Piene Litchballet

Now after this exhibit I expected Otto Piene to be just as good but it was so much more than that! I absolutely loved this!

Otto Piene is known for using light as an artistic medium to portray his ideas. He was interested in the “steady flow of unfurling and dimming, rearranging, and vanishing light”. I read that he was known best for his fire paintings and sky art so I looked them up to see what I should expect at the gallery.

Here is what I found:

After seeing all of these I was already interested in him, but what I walked into blew my mind.

I sat on the bench on the side of the room which was completely dark when I got in there. Then one light went on and I was able to see a bunch of contraptions in the middle of the room. One by one they each began to light up and spin around the room, leaving different shapes and patterns to follow. I don’t know how to describe my experience in the room but it was remarkable. I was there by myself and had as much time as I wanted to sit there with my own thoughts. Being alone made it very personal, like it was a show being put on for me. I switched seats a few times and each time was a new experience. I watched just one contraption at a time, and then all of them together, i looked just straight ahead and then just at the ceiling, just at the floor, and then looked up at the wall above me. I was completely entranced. It felt almost magical and I ran back home to write this all done before the feelings faded! I even asked my friends to come with me to see it again nextweek and I cannot wait to share it with them too.

Both of the exhibits were awesome and researching them was very interesting as well. While i enjoyed the Haacke exhibit very much, I definitely had a more personal connection to the Litchballet installation. It was all very new and interesting for me!

As always,

Darien

Wow we have done so much thos semester! With the galleries/museums, school visits, and student teaching I have way too much to write about! It is definitely going to be difficult to choose one topic and not end up soeaking about all the other amazing things i have learned this year but here goes..

One topic I am very interested in is progression. We are all a part of a huge art circle, or maybe cycle is a better word.

Art Circle/Cycle

I know my job as an art instructor os nt part of the class itself but it ties in so well with everything I am learning in this class. I teach kids from ages 5 to 11 and I feel like they are the beginning of the cycle. They are just beginning to render recognizable objects and their imaginations are running wild! They are not ready to see the top of the cycle, Famous displaying artists, because it is so far out of their reach, instead I show them some of my sketches and some art my high school students are doing as a demonstration and also a goal for them.

The next step would be the students I have been teaching at Dorchester Academy. They are past just rendering objects and beginning to learn techniques to add to their basic art making knowledge. Like my younger students I encourage them but I can also tell them things to improve upon and see their progress. What’s more is they can see their progress as well which is truly remarkable to watch. When planning my lessons I always give examples to demonstrate styles and techniques but at the same time these students need to see art work that is more attainable. When I show them something from the top of the cycle such as Van Gogh for instance, that is nowhere ear what they expect for themselves, it is not tangible. So I brought in some of my own art to show them and they seemed to really believe they could reach my level on the cycle if they listen to my lessons and try their hardest. Actually seeing the artist and the art and also watching how I created it gives them all they need to one day reach this standard.

The next level would be me! I have the basics of my little kids, the techniques of my high school kids, and also my foundation year as a base and now i am working on finding my own patterns and styles to make me unique. Above me would be local artists. Which is in the pan for me to achieve within the next few years. Like I said this is tangible, something I should believe is in store for me in my near future.

This category would include local artists in a community, my art teachers, and also artists that have a name put there, but not know to everyone.

Next would bne the big shots, all the masters with names recognizable to pretty much everyone.

Now it is very very important to give the students something to reach for. What is even more important is to give them something to reach for that they really can achieve or come close to achieving. Not all students in the class will become my level but certainly the ones who plan to go to art school will. Showing them just Monet, Andy Warhol etc etc does not help on its own, Showing my artwork and then my teachers art as a transition before showing the masters really gives them a step by step progression and makes them excited to start the transitions.

I am still trying to wrap my head around all of this and figure out how to present it but to give a example to better understand, it is like a long steep stair case. You look all the way up and it seems impossible to reach the top. But after seeing the middle steps it is a lot easier to imagine yourself at the top. And one day, with enough practice and enough insight we can all reach the top. It is our goal as educators to both  believe our students can reach the top and also educate them until they believe it themselves too.

That is just one of many many many important pieces I have recently added to my collection, I cannot wait to hear what you all think about it!

As always,

Darien

First I would like to start by saying that was the most beautiful day we have had in weeks! I want to share a picture of the beautiful view:

Both of these site visits had one thing in common, they love teens! It was really amazing to see what both of these programs offer to Boston teens, I kept saying to myself that I wish I had access to these when I was in high school! I could not imagine how much I would take advantage of all the ICA classes and to be paid to make art in high school? I would love that!

Institute of Contemporary Art

The best part of this program is that it is absolutely free. What student would not want to do that? The way Joe explained how they gave him free reign to get whatever he felt to make that room amazing is so great! I am not so good with technology but the equipment he pointed out seemed very impressive, things I definitely did not have access to in high school. Teaching new media is very difficult so high school students coming to the professionals to learn about it will really give them a good understanding of what it is all about.

One thing Joe spoke about is why new media is so difficult to teach. This approach to art is very new to us, we are still trying to get familiar with it. I have to admit before this class I knew pretty much nothing about it so to go around and teach my students about it would be very tough! But this new age of technology is not new to high school students, it is what they grew up with. Basically, many high school students already know a lot more about it than me so it is important for me to keep learning and catch up! I want to see as much contemporary art as possible which is why I was so excited that we had time to browse through the galleries!

I had not been in the galleries for a year or two so it was awesome! I really liked the section where it was all made from like an alternative process such as the painting made from mascara that the artist put on her eye lashes and blinked all over the paper, that was my favorite. Also one artist pulled out a pad of paper on the subway and held his pen on it and as the subway screeched to a start and stop the rythm was recorded onto the sheet.

here are some photos of the two pieces:

This is the Swoon piece that was in the entrance to the museum, it was awesome! I loved how it followed us up the elevator and through the halls. It was also awesome hearing how students helped assist the artist!

Here is a picture I took of it:

Finally, my favorite part of the visit was the shoot em up film! it was hilarious, I was laughing the entire time!

Artists For Humanity

I fell in love the second I walked in this building! or actually I guess while we were outside, here is what I saw first:

And thats just the outside!the inside was amazing too!

here it is:

All of the facilities offered here are absolutely amazing, I think it is so great what they are doing here. To hear that high school students are getting paid to produce art is the best thing I have ever heard. It is a great way to get them interested at a young age and to get some practice! Also, how they were saying thousands of people see their art every day because they are put in busy, public areas is crazy! I wish I could have been a part of this program, I have been speaking to Derek because after going there once there is no way to stay away! I want to help them and become part of their amazing community!

One thing I thought was so clever is their idea to make each seat at the banquet into a piece of art was so great. Everyone will go home with something made by a high school artist. The chairs looked great, here are some pictures of my favorites:

One more interesting fact is that when I saw my sister the other day she was just coming back from a wedding and said the place the reception was at was so cool because it had car windshields lining the balcony so I showed her a picture I took of the building and said is this it? and she said yes how did I know about it and i told her all about the building and what they do! She had no idea what the building was, it was just rented out for the wedding but she appreciated it even more once I told her what Artists for Humanity was all about, what a small world haha!

As a reflection on the day as a whole, I was amazed at what these facilities do for young artists. I think everyone should appreciate them as much as this because they are our future! As Derek explained to me, many people do not think young kids are capable of doing anything they set their minds to, and that they only hire people who believe they can. This is something I have found so pertinent in my experiences with teaching. I really believe Children can do anything! They have no boundaries and wild imaginations why couldn’t they do anything they set their minds to? These two sites both seemed to have the right idea, it was a really fun and insightful experience!

As always,

Darien

Learning about new media at Aspect Magazine was a bit of a challenge for me. I don’t really know anything about new media to tell the truth but it was still very interesting to hear what Micheal Mittleman had to say and to begin to grow an understanding for new media. The Mills Gallery was something much more easily understood as I have been to many galleries but never a magazine company.

Aspect Magazine and Micheal Mittleman

To begin with a little about Michel Mittleman, he actually attended MassArt for interrelated media which is pretty cool. One thing I love about all of our site visits is to see hoe people who attend MassArt really go places and succeed. He is both a traditional artist and new media artist as well. When he taught an interactive art class he came to find that all he had access to was slides, and not very many of them. He said he needed more! He needed moving slides. So he pitched the idea at the Boston Cyber Arts Festival but he was told to do it himself. So he did! It is amazing how he started this company from the ground up based off of an issue he had. I really admire his perseverance.

Whats even more amazing is he had Aspect up and running in three months! All of the magazine issues contained about ten artists and a commentator to explain the work in the DVDs.  one issue he faced was certain art galleries claimed that he could not sell work done by their artists. This brings up the issue of who really owns the art? One other issue he solved is the “many eyes, few hands” issue. Aspect is 40$ per semester to view works of 200 artists, slides were too expensive so a subscription to Aspect is a great way to view this type of art.

Something Micheal said which I was very interested in was that he thinks we are headed towards the “dark ages of modern art”. I recall the issue of documentation from back when we met Emily Putnam. There is a lot of art being made but no one is documenting it. I think what he has done to help this cause is amazing!

Something aspect does differently than everyone else is that they have the work on DVD and also do not physically make any changes after it is handed to them by the artist, all they do is add commentators to it. You can choose to listen to both at the same time or just one or the other which is really cool.

The video he showed us was in the eighteenth volume, “Export to China” called “The Swirl” by Ma Yong Feng. It was a typical washing machine cycle, only with ten koi fish put in. I hated it! it was supposed to be about cruelty to animals and humans and how it is bad yet for some reason he thought it was okay to inflict pain on fish? Isn’t that what he is advocating against? I liked the idea but it was really painful to watch for the entire cycle, a minute or two would have been enough for me to understand. It brought up the issue of how long is long enough? Micheal told us that it is okay to hate a piece but that he still likes to publish some art that he does not like. So that other people can take their own interpretation of it.

He spoke alot about Kitsch Art verses High Art but he seemed to assume we already knew what they were. I don’t know about everyone else in the class but I had no idea what either were! So I have been doing some research and trying to improve my understanding but it is still a work in progress. here are some sites I visited on my journey to understanding:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitsch

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_culture

Boston Arts Academy and the Mills Gallery

The Mills Gallery was great. It was described as “a contemporary way of presenting all mediums”. We spoke with Brian, the visual arts manager, and first spoke about where he came from and what he does at the gallery. This specific show is their 22nd drawing exhibition called “Residue” and the curator was Steve Holmes. I wrote down the 16 people accepted into the show, chosen from 160 applicants, they are as follows:

Jelena Berenc

Irene Clark

Annie Laurie Erikson

Billy Friebele

Christy Georg

Jenny Herrick

Elise Kaufman

B. Lynch

Colleen Kiely

Sky Kim

Michael Nichols

Eric Sweet

Sophia Narrett

Danielle C Wyckoff

some of my favorites were:

Sky Kim, “Untitled”, I love the colors, the attention to detail and also the way it rolls down the wall and across the floor.

Colleen Kiely, “School Bus”, I love how tiny it is and the attention to detail. It looks awesome on the polypropylene, I am definitely going to try this material on my art sometime.

Elise Kauffman, “Ghost State”, I love the style the artist has. Also the mystery this piece holds is amazing and keeps the viewer thinking.

Here are some I was not too fond of:

This one is by B. Lynch. I do not understand why sketches are being hung in a gallery! I feel like I could draw those very easily, maybe I just do not understand but in my opinion I would like one of these sketches made into an actual piece but maybe that is just me.

This next one is by Irene Clark. I just do not really see what is so special about it. What I mean is it just does not really speak to me, it is just there.

I think some of the art spoke to me at first glance and some did not. BUT some of them did grow in my favor after listening to him speak about the concepts so who knows maybe I would like these two more if I had a better understanding.

I think the process behind the show was very interesting tyo learn about as well. They had an open call and received boxes of envelopes.It took months to put together and organization was really important. Also they used a code for each artist so the curator was not favoring one or another. One tip was to be meticulous and to take away any distractions or inconsistencies. This was well presented with how everything was placed. there was a lot of space between each piece which helped each viewer have a private moment with each piece instead of being crowded and to also make sure no artwork got over looked.

One piece different from all the rest was this:

This piece is called “Body Parts” by Annie Lauren Erikson. It was so different and interesting and I love it! I love how you can touch each piece and how you find ones others do not. I also think its so creative how it weighs exactly as much as the artists. Each individual abstraction is great. I think this piece best fits the word residue in the gallery, each person leaves their finger prints and their ideas onto it and also rearranges it.

I loved both experiences of this week. Though I better understood the work at Mills my mind was working a million miles an hour trying to catch everything Micheal said at aspect. I like to pus myself outside my comfort zone so I am definitely going to have to delve into new media more and really make myself familiar with it! I want to be able to speak to my students about this one day so I find it very important to know all about every type of art, not just the ones I am most comfortable with/drawn to.

As always,

Darien

Gary is awesome!

Liz and I both had the privilege of being paired up with Gary, a Senior at Boston Arts Academy. He had so many questions and we were excited to answer them. I thought it was interesting that he was struggling to choose between Graphic Design, Architecture, Painting and Printmaking because they are all so different! It was amazing to hear how enthused he was about each different medium and i could relate because I had a hard time choosing as well. Last week I mentioned a painting from his blog (it is on my blog from last week if you want to take another look) and I was amazed to hear him speak about it when I told him I loved it. He said he had only been painting a year! How did he do that!? The meaning behind it was really great as well. Also he was interested in taking a Saturday Studios class which i strongly advised him to do because I took one and loved it!

It was really cool that they all watched the Art 21 clip as well as us. Listening to them draw conclusions after I had the night before was interesting. I wrote down a few things they noticed, here they are:

small and tight usually, take a break and do big and loose

taking traditional pakistani art and making it contemporary

related to Muslim women

oppression, the veil

“The Goddess”

layering paper

literal but also abstracted

sense of rememberence

arabic forms turning into horses

got out of her comfort zone

So those are some things they said when we were all together before viewing the exhibit. This class was an interesting contrast with Swampscott, I could tell they were much more comfortable with speaking about art and art elements. None of them were afraid to speak about what they saw and it got even more interesting once viewing the show! The game plan was to take twenty minutes to view the entire show, and then pick one piece to present to the class.

There was one drawing Gary was particularly fond of so we settled down to speak about it. I did not write down the name of it but after an hour of searching online I found it! It is a drawing of a figure with mans legs and feet but the head and arms of a bird. Some of it is clearly ink, some clearly pencil, and some that you can not tell. all layered on a very carefully constructed border. Here is what it looks like:

Here is what Gary said about the piece:

The blue walls are great contrast with the image

likes the placement of the figure and the composition

the detail in the graphite mixed with loose ink is great

likes the bird head in pencil because it is detailed

likes how the figure comes out of the border

would like to see the different layers on seperate sheets of paper to see how she did it

Liz and I explained to him how the carefully drawn border was sticking to the traditinal and that the loose expressive marks over it were to modernize it. Gary thought that concept was really interesting. We then went to sit and view some of the video, and as we watched I showed him how Sikander took her skills as a painter and drawer and then brought them into a new form through animation. I wanted to point this out because he is interested in graphic design, architectural design, and painting/printmaking which would also be cool if applied like she does in the animation. Architectural drawings are tight and precise just like her graphite marks and then painting over it would be cool. Then taking that to a new dimension by putting it into some graphic design would be awesome and he seemed very interested in that idea. He liked the thought of mixing his interests and I was really happy to have helped him see it in a different way. It was a truly remarkable day!

Here are some of the pictures I took at the exhibit:

I have lots more pictures if anyone is interested in seeing them let me know!

As always, Darien

What a day!

So I will start by explaining that my group was on a different track than the others because Alisha, Lindsay and I were in charge of the photography students. Instead of going through the americas wings first we were told to begin in the Colombian photo exhibit and then pretty much had free reign over where else to take the students. I was really happy with this because we were not rushed and got to feel out what they were interested in and what they did not want to see for more than a simple glance. Our group was eleven students, the three of us and two chaperones, and the students were pretty good with sticking together, I counted them every ten minutes though just to make sure haha. Many of them said they have been to a museum before, just not the MFA so I wanted this trip to be really exciting. We gave out name tags, introduced ourselves, handed out supplies and then jumped right in!

First stop was the Colombian exhibit (Violet Isle, a Photographic Portrait of Cuba), which is a room filled with photos taken by Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb. Both of these artists work with photos drenched in color, it was amazing! We had the students take a walk around for ten minutes and join us in the middle. Most of them, however, only took about five before they started talking and seemed done looking. So I began speaking a little earlier than planned. I asked what they noticed about the photos and most of them just said color and bright. So I challenged them to think harder by asking if they noticed any differences and similarities between the two artists works. They had not thought of it so I began by mentioning what I had noticed. Alex was more into the figures and playing with foreground/background and Rebecca was more focussed on one subject at a time and the use of color in the one object. Once I said it they began to think in more detail, and we sent them back to pick one piece to observe and sketch for ten minutes. They started warming up to us a little bit more after this, probably because a few people volunteered responses but no one else did so I went around the circle and asked everyone to share. We noticed that they did not like to speak out in front of the entire class but when I approached them in small groups they were really comfortable answering every question I had for them.

The second stop on our journey was to the new contemporary wing. In class I remember Beth saying it was usually hard to get students interested in this new type of art, which is why it was so crazy to see how much our group loved it! They did not seem very interested in the photos so we thought they just did not want to be there but wow they really opened themselves up to this exhibit. we gave them twenty minutes to look around and sketch what they were interested and ended up having to drag them away from the walls to regroup haha! I asked if they understood the art and they said no, but that they liked that they did not understand, that the mystery made it interesting. They all handled the subject matter very well after our warning, specifically with the Kara Walker piece, they were afraid to go too close to it on their own but once i told them to look at it they all did and were very interested. Thos is my favorite piece in the exhibit because it is so provoking.

Kara Walker:

I thought it was important that I join their exploration right along with them so I took a sketch sheet like theirs and did some drawings and wrote down some quotes as well. When we regrouped I showed them what I had drawn. One picture was of an abstract 3d piece and I showed them how each view of the piece was a work of art in itself, and how a photograph of something like this would also be a piece of art, showing them how they can set up their own interesting structure and photograph it. I wanted to tie photography into each aspect of the trip and how all art is connected. I also drew a couple similar figures from different parts of the gallery next to each other to make for an interesting composition, which I compared to layering negatives in the dark room, (for any people who are not photo savy that is when you put two negatives on top of each other when developing so that two images appear on the paper, its a really cool effect).

We did not have much time left so we quickly brought them to the fourth floor photo wing…..they were completely uninterested. They all grouped by some table in the middle of the room with a computer on it. So Lindsay and Alisha and I looked at each other and were like lets go see Sargent! Alisha had told us Sargent was her favorite artist and she really wanted to show them his work, we did not think we would have time but in the moment it was a perfect idea! The students actually really enjoyed it. They liked the portraits. We compared this to taking portraits with a camera. Many of them gathered by one particular piece of a woman and her dress was very blurred by the use of swift brush strokes, so I described how you can get this same effect by moving the camera as you shoot, or another way would be to have a long shutter exposure. I also pointed out how in one piece the figure was in focus and the background figures were out of focus which can be attained by controlling the depth of field through the aperture settings. They all had just learned these elements of photography and had not thought of how to apply them yet so whe  i said these tips you could see their minds turning with ideas, I even heard a few say I want to try that! So Sargent and the rest of the paintings in the room really helped them make connections for their next photography project, it was awesome!

My drawings:

Sargent:

At this point I had grown used to the idea that they did not like to speak as a large group so I went around to each group of friends and asked what they liked about what they were looking at and they were totally comfortable telling me because they knew their friends would not judge them for it. And I told them it is all opinion and no one could be wrong with any response given. And also that it is okay to not like something, and asked wahy they did not like certain pieces.

We grouped together one more time to make some connections and see what they thought and overall it was a success! All of them said they wanted to come back and see the other exhibits. They also agreed that they were glad they were not rushed with exhibits they enjoyed, and also glad that they were not forced to stay in the boring parts too long. I was totally surprised when we asked which exhibits were their favorites. 6 students chose Contemporary, 4 chose the paintings, and only one chose the photos. I was shocked! But just glad that they had a great time and that they had new ideas to infuse their art with when they got back to the dark room. It was a really great experience.

Here is a link to view some more art in the Americas wing:

http://www.mfa.org/collections/art-americas

As always, Darien

Mobius with Emily Putnam

Meeting with Emily was a very new and interesting experience for me. I never really knew what performance art was, never really understand why it was considered art, but now that she has explained her inspirations and methods I understand. She described performances as “connecting to something bigger than myself’”. I really like how the performances she described are open to interpretation, “the viewers can take what they want from it” as she said. She also spoke about her artist community. I never really thought about conversing with people solely in your medium of expertise. All freshman year we were in the foundation program and had classes with a huge mix of specialties. Now, as sophomore year progresses, I m beginning to see what she means. I feel like i take alot more away from conversations when I speak to other art education majors which is what Emily was saying she does with other performance artists.

Yet another interesting aspect of this visit was when she spoke of her inspirstions and also her methods for beginning a performance. I took down a few names she mentioned as her inspiartions, the one she sounded most involved with was Gutai, a performance artist. The link bellow is one of the websites I used to find out more about him:

http://www.nipponlugano.ch/en/gutai-multimedia/narrazione/project/links/Highlights/project/narrazione_page-18_nav-short.html

One specific piece of Gutai’s that she mentioned was “Challenging Mud” in 1955, a picture of this performance is shown below.

The site I got this image from was very helpful as well. It described particularly this piece, but in relation to all his works as well, as using a material to influence a viewer. “In the Gutai Manifesto, Jirō Yoshihara defined Gutai as truth to the material of which art is made, and lifting that material to spiritual heights. This site also compared Gutai to Jackson Pollock, an artist I know well, and also an artist I had never heard of,Georges Mathieu. Both of which he says “grapple with the material in a way which is completely appropriate to it”. I looked up images online of these two artists to try and understand what he meant by this and it all became clear to me, here are some of those images:

Jackson Pollock above and Georges Mathieu below

One more piece by Gutai which she referenced in detail is “Breaking Through Many Paper Screens” in 1956 shown below. She spoke of the way he moved through the papers and how he ripped each sheet and I could tell how greatly this piece had inspired her work by the way she described it:

All of that information was taken from the following site, except the Pollock and Mathieu pictures which were from google: http://theslideprojector.com/art1/art1honorspresentations/art1lecture21.html

To add to her inspirations she also said she implemented alot of feminist ideals into her earlier work on purpose and that now it is more subdued because she does not try to add it in but it comes out when she moves. I thought this was really cool because she is saying her personality comes out in her wpork which always makes for a better piece of art.

I would have no idea how to begin a performance piece which is why it was cool for her to describe her pre-performance yoga and relaxation techniques. She said it takes about ten minutes to get into the flow before her body takes over. “actions of the body are like tools” she says, “my arms and legs are like paint brush and canvas”, this was my favorite quote of hers. A performance is interactive all the way through and she likes to add red yarn to her works, as a “strand of continuity”. She said she was really fond of the color red which was interesting as well. She also showed us a clip of her four part color piece which really conveyed her ideas of how much color adds to a performance and what it means. I wish I could find a picture or clip of this to post but no such luck. I will however post one of my favorite pieces of hers.

This was so cool! She wore her old school uniform when visiting her home town and moved all around this long piece of paper tracing her body with chalk. The clothes were covered in color and tattered after hours of performing and then she hung up the garments as a piece of art itself. This is something I was really interested in, it reminded me of playing hopscotch as a child and it told alot about who she is as a person and where she came from.

As you can see I really enjoyed this visit. I like to broaden my horizons and this type of art was up until this viewing something i was not comfortable with because I did not understand but now I am beginning to. I took down some times of performances that will be held at Mobius and hope to see one soon to further develop my knowledge in this area. The only thing I can complain about is I really wish we were able to see her perform. I thought we were going to which is why I am a little disappointed but hopefully I can make it there on my own time to see a performance! I definitely have more interest in it than i did before. Here is their website to see for yourself: http://mobius.org/. Emily has her own page under artists, her artists name is El putnam.

 Now the Harvard Art Museum was a lot more straight forward. We have all been to plenty of art museums so this was not something completely new and different to me as the Mobius visit was, but I had never been to the museum and enjoyed it a lot. I liked how I knew many of the artist that were displayed, yet had never seen the specific works that were hung up. This includes Georgia O’Keefe, Jackson Pollock, and Sol Lewitt.

Sol Lewitt was one that most people in the class had never heard of, but I remembered him from a visit I had to the Mass Moca art museum. Here are some pictures I took of his work for anyone interested in seeing what else he makes, they are just clips of my friends and I messing around but his work was amazing! There were rooms and rooms of all these colors and shapes we spent hours in there!:

I find it interesting that the whole front room, which is accredited to Sol lewitt, can be credited to him when he did not paint one stroke on the wall. He planned out what it would look like but it was actually members of Harvard that carried it out. It looked really cool though.

I could talk about each piece of art we looked at and what our adorable little tour guide, Alica De Lana, said but I think I will just point out a few that I liked the best and which spoke to me the most as everyone already heard her speak. I really enjoyed the Animal Farm Piece by Tim Rollins and the Kids of Survival. First of all i find it absolutely amazing what he does, taking educationally challenged and at risk children under his wing and giving them something to thrive on is so inspiring to me. I just think it is amazing. Here is a site I used for some background information on the program: http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/135983/Kids-of-Survival-The-Art-and-Life-of-Tim-Rollins-K-O-S-/overview. This specific piece of the programs is painted on pages from Animal Farm, written by George Orwell. They selected certain pages on purpose and painted a picture on top of it. The painted image is the head of P.W. Both super imposed onto the body of a dog symbolizing, just like the book, that humans can be just as monstrous as animals. “In 1984 artist and activist Tim Rollins launched the Art and Knowledge workshop, a collaboration with a student group called Kids of Survival (K.O.S.), which grew out of an art class he taught in a South Bronx public school. Rollins and the students create large works inspired by canonical texts that relate directly to sociopolitical issues of the times, as exemplified by The Animal Farm: P. W. Botha 1 (1984–87), currently on view in the first-floor gallery of the Sackler Museum.” http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/calendar/detail.dot?id=39330.

Another piece I really enjoyed was a wood cut print by Leonard Baskin, called “Hydrogen Man”. The expression and movement in this artwork is just amazing. I looked him up on the Harvard Art Museum website (http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/) and found many other works of his that are all interesting as well. It is interesting seeing this particular piece compared to the rest of his works. This one is definitely my favorite because it is different from his others which are mostly of animals and some heads too. What is different about his other portrayals of people compared to “Hydrogen Man” is that they are realistic and this one is more what is on the inside than on the outside.This piece is in a way abstracted but also seems like a portrayal of the bones and veins of the man. The stark black and white also makes it seem like an x-ray. It is almost as if we are examining this man, this being which I do not feel is the same message in his other pieces, you can see for yourself:

As you can see the first image is focuses on the body and what comprises it where as the others are more representational portraits. Here is the site where you can see his other works from the Harvard Art museum: link

 I found both visits very interesting but both in their own different ways. I liked the first part because it was so new to me, I did not know anything about performance art and I learned a lot. The second visit to the museum itself was not new because I have been to art museums hundreds of times, but what is new about it was how I view the pieces and what I take away. I no longer just look at the piece and decide if I like it I view it in context with what is happening at the time it was made, I look into who inspired the artist, I look at the artists other works and make comparisons, I compare the artist to other artists of the times, I listen to the guide and what she has to say about it, it is only then that I decide what I want to take away from it. This sounds like a long process but it is essential for an artist to be able to do all these things as another artist would do when maybe one day seeing our art in a gallery. It is also essential for us to be able to perform these tasks when investigating an artist because we are educators and we need to know what to tell pur students so that they can take something away from it as well. I think this was a very important concept that helped me alot when I was thinking of what to show the Swampscott students at the MFA this week.

Liz and I are going to be partners with one member of the Boston Arts Academy when we take them around the Shahzia Sikander exhibit. His name is Gary and i spent a lot of time looking at his blog, it is amazing that they have art blogs in high school! I was very impressed.

One of his pieces which I really liked was not titled but I thought I would post it here so everyone can see how great it is!

 here is what he said about it:

“This abstract piece is about the transition of me becoming of an artist. the red “Mountains” represent the obstacles i have overcame and the orange path represents my skill of an artist. in the beginning of this path starts off as a rough jagged start and as time progresses I start to shape and harness my craft. at the end of the path it starts to become more smooth and clean. As for my first piece, I am proud of it and it shows my connections with my friends in the background that represents as a building frame which holds me down as an artist.”

I was shocked by this piece after reading his first blog post. This is because he seemed like he did not think he was any good at art and referred to himself as the worst in the class and then the next post he has this!

He also had a few different sculptures in different mediums as well and it seems like he is really open to critiques and how they can help improve his end results. I am really looking forward to meeting him tomorrow!

So I was asked to be the leader for the Photography group on the tour through the MFA in a few weeks. Danielle is my partner so we were going to bounce a few ideas back and forth before deciding on our plan of action. Here is what I was thinking and some questions for her:

We were told to go through the photo sections first and then move on to the new wing.

Things to think about for the photo section:

-Are there certain pieces you would like to point out?

-should we allow them time to look on their own first or should we give them some ideas to think about before they look (such as color/bw, composition, subject matter etc)

-Are there ways to connect this to pieces in the Americas wing?

-I know they are specifically focusing on portraits within the realm of photography right now so maybe we can have a large focus on the photo portraits which we could relate to the Americas wing by showing them different portraits in paintings (both representational and non representational), what do you think of that?

Things to think about for the new wing:

Should we begin on each floor by pointing out the pieces they are learning about in class or should we let them browse and then point them out? Personally i would chose the latter because if they look on their own first they may recognize some of the pieces from class and get excited because they would have a sense of familiarity but either way would still be great. What do you think about all of these topics? Or do you have any other important things to point out that I missed? Just let me know, I am excited to hear your ideas!

As always, Darien

Updated plan

So Danielle never responded to my blog plans so I did some thinking and made the decisions myself. Here is my game plan:
We will be starting in the photo wing as this is a photo class. First I will speak for a few minutes about color vs black and white, composition, subject matter, and portraits, just very briefly. Then they will have five minutes to look around and then ten minutes to sketch and take notes on their favorite piece.
Then we will move to the Americas wing and start chronologically. They have about 20 minutes for each floor so they will have ten minutes to look around and ten to draw. Any left over time will be spent evaluating as a group what they liked/did not like and also how it relates to photography and portraits. I will be sure to point out some portraits that have good composition and other photographic elements in them. If there is time after the three floors of the Americas wing we will quickly look through the contemporary art wing.
I want these students to understand how photography and painting are interrelated and also the importance of the portrait. There are certain things you can show through a painting that you can not show in a photo but there is something very different about what a photo conveys as well that no other media can.

As always, Darien