AUTHENTICITY

I must admit that authenticity has me quite confused after reading about how it has shaped the art world. On one hand, I recognize the importance of authenticity in determining the value of an artwork. On the other hand, does the discovery that "Madonna of the Pinks" was indeed an original change the value of the painting itself? The painting has remained the same, while the context has changed. So, this has me thinking - perhaps society and its values determine the authenticity of a painting? I'm not sure. I'd be interested in learning more about the idea of authenticity and how it correlates with appropriation, inspiration, etc.

In my own work, I think that I can create authenticity by letting my life experience and truest self inspire my artwork. I would think that the idea of authenticity would favor process over product. I would argue this because, of the example of "Steam Boat Off a Harbour's Mouth." It is not certain whether or not the artist actually experienced such a storm that he has depicted in this painting. However, he may have told this story to create a more authentic representation of his "experience" in the eyes of the viewer. For me, I think being an authentic creator involves, as Kathy says, making meaning through meaningful making.

NARRATIVE

The section on narrative provided insight about one of the first forms of storytelling, visual storytelling. When considering the most famous monuments and buildings throughout history, they often are decorated in narratives, whether that be through a carving, painting, or even the work of a cave man. The beauty of a visual narrative is that multiple perspectives can be gained and many stories told all within one image. Moaccio's "The Tribute Money" can provide great insight to the viewer who before seeing the image had no knowledge of the biblical story.

Narrative is a powerful idea that I often use in my own illustrations, paintings and other works of art. I have long enjoyed telling stories with pictures and I think that a variety of mediums can be used to achieve telling a great story. I think it would be wonderful to do an entire narrative unit with your students where they would have opportunities to explore different ways to share stories: carving or designing a Roman column, creating a large-scale painting, creating a stop-motion video, cartooning, illustration, the list goes on and on. These are the kinds of authentic experiences I want for my students to have and I like to experiment with in my own work.

Although the second paragraph is supposed to focus on intertwining the idea within our own art, how neat would it be to print giant columns and glue them to cardboard, then having each student "write" (create) their own personal narrative on the column?! It would also coordinate well with a history or literature class.

GLOBALIZATION

Globalization set the stage for international artists to come together in themed-large scale exhibitions called biennales. I am particularly interested in the Okwui Enwezor's approach to the 2nd Johannesburg Biennale where artists explored "border crossings" related to "shifting political landscapes." This would be an extremely engaging and educational experience for those visiting attending the show due to the vareity of perspectives and stories found in one place.

This idea could be applied to one (and probably many more) of the 50 conceptual ideas I came up with for my project over the course of the semester. My concept that involved taking handwritten stories from Columbia residents and including them in an artwork to tell a joint story would speak to the theme of globalization. I would include stories from many of our foreign students studying here or people that have immigrated to the U.S. and settled in Columbia. I think this would be a great way to represent the many types of people living in the Columbia area and what each person has to bring to the table.

Reflection 1: Response to Kamhi and Gude

Response to Michelle Marder Kamhi's "Rescuing Art from 'Visual Culture Studies"'

While I largely disagreed with Kahmi's article, I did not feel the need to make note of particular quotes until she said, "Many fine photographs are largely lucky accidents of this kind, whereas no true work of art ever is. No thoughtful viewer should ignore this distinction." HELLO? What would she have to say about the work of Jackson Pollock? Like him or not, he is one of the most famous artists throughout history and I don't think his paint splatters were as strategically planned as she would like to argue. She insults artists of countless mediums by discounting photography, art direction, and many others as "non-art". She is doing a disservice to her students by refusing to engage with 21st century artists and learners. We must equip our students with the ability to read visuals regardless of whether they are part of an art form or not.  

Article that refutes Kamhi's arguments: "Visual Culture within Comprehensive Art Education and Elementary Art Curriculum" by Amanda J. Muirheid
http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1072&context=art_design_theses

The article listed above labels the developments in 21st century art education as a new renaissance where students are learning not only how to decode traditional fine art, but all types of visual language. Muirheid explains that art education will not be marginalized if it is seen as relevant information to the society in which we live. One way to make art education relevant to everyone is to emphasize the importance of being visually literate. In the 21st century, there are many types of literacy and we want our students to be literate across all areas to be the most successful.

Response to Olivia Gude's "New school art styles: The project of art education"

Gude's article resonated with me in that I want my classroom to be a free and encouraging environment where kids see their "mistakes" as "opportunities." I remember during field students often asking for new paper or materials because they "messed up". I do not want my students to feel they are being successful in my classroom because they have created an exact replica of my demonstration. I want the students to create individual, unique projects that are meaningful to them. I do not want the work produced in my classroom to be "ritualistic and rule governed" by any means. It is extremely important to me that students learn skills and work on projects that engage them and stimulate their creative minds.

I think one way to achieve a truly warm and experimental environment is to give kids the occasional open studio that Gude described. This gives children the opportunity to try new mediums and materials and experiment without risk.

I have seen that kids are almost always more passionate about what they are creating when they are creating work that is meaningful and personal to them. I want my influence over the students to be one that helps them grow their ideas and confidence as young artists. I do NOT want to "stifle individual creativity and meaningful exploration of content" by having students recreate step-by-step projects.

Gude clarifies that art making should be based off the actual methodology of artists making work. I love this point! If we are making clay pots with students, it is critical to explain the origin of this concept and how it was an important skill or trade in certain cultures.

25 Conceptual Ideas

1) The story of a city (artwork comprised of handwritten stories from (city) residents)
2) Constant connectivity of 21st century life
3) Cycles that occur between generations (ex: education, lack of education, etc.)
4) "Normal" - norms that vary by culture, major differences in norms from culture to culture
5) Women and societal roles - how they've changed from 50 years ago to today
6) Animals and their similarities to humans - emotions, relationships, roles
7) Anthropology - the study of a culture through a series of artwork
8) Health's role in your life - how it can affect your life, taint the glass, change daily perspective
9) The Sea - an underwater world
10) Handwriting - variations of handwriting and what they mean, a study of handwriting
11) Everyday objects turned into works of art - finding beauty in the everyday
12) A novel transformed into an elaborately illustrated story through a series of fine artworks
13) The story of a letter, series of works showing its content developed to its delivery
14) Classroom installations - installations to teach lessons in the art classroom
15) Typography - expressive typography that expresses mood, concepts, themes, etc (giant letters)
16) Upcycled stories - original stories created by taking words, phrases, illustrations, etc from upcycled books
17) Upcycled letters - original personal stories created by taking words and phrases from vintage letters, old junk mail, etc.
18) Monoprints with makeup - the "female face" painted onto acrylic then pressed onto paper
19) Upcycling - modern art created from throw away products, such as glass bottles, old notebooks, etc.
20) Least favorite artworks sectioned into pieces to create a new piece of artwork, process, process, process, playing on the idea that we do not always know what the result will be
21) Children's artwork - the development of their process and abilities
22) The world inside a seashell.. needs further development
23) Small worlds, eco-systems, ponds, etc.
24) Homes - types of homes, city apartment, suburban home, igloo, what different types of homes mean
25) Portraits of 5 different types of geniuses falling into the 5 minds of the future categories
26) The human language - body language that go across languages
27) A study of monuments and what they mean to a culture
28) Miniatures... a look into a world the public does not usually see 

CONCEPTUAL

Bird's writing about conceptual art fits in perfectly with the content of Studio Thinking. The author quoted Michelangelo to emphasize the importance of thinking in the creative process; "A man paints with his brains, not his hands." I think this is relevant to the work we will produce throughout the semester because of the amount of time we will dedicate to the brainstorming and thinking that takes place before the actual production of work.

I often find myself losing patience in brainstorming and thinking about ideas before jumping in and using my hands. Because I am the type of artist that gets struck with inspiration and instantly wants to create, I struggle to take a step back before beginning to contemplate how I could make the work stronger or more conceptual. However, when I force myself to spend more time thinking about my work and what I want it to mean or a larger, more conceptual scale, I often feel more satisfied with the final product knowing how much thought and self-expression I have put into it. As I produce a series of artwork over the course of the semester, I plan to spend more time on the thinking, hopefully in turn being more successful at producing.

SERIES

In reading about the role of the "series" in the art world, I realized that creating a series is a powerful way to explore relationships. The pieces that make up the series have both individual and relationship roles creating an interesting dichotomy. Meaning changes as context changes, and in this case the context is viewing either a part of the series or the whole.

I found the history of series quite interesting because of its link to the development of printmaking. As I take my first printmaking class this semester, I will definitely use the idea of "series" throughout the semester. I love the idea of telling a narrative through a series of prints. Each part of the whole tells its own narrative and combined these narratives tell a complete story.

An introduction

I chose the piece of artwork above to introduce myself because I think it embodies both my artistic style and mediums in which I most like to work. I love to create whimsical and illustrative artwork that tells a story and inspires the viewer. Recently, I fell in love with the process of collage-making and often incorporate layered elements into my work. I love to paint with both watercolors and acrylics, usually adding some sort of pen and ink, too.