Image Essay # 12

This week I chose to do my image essay about the paper art that Matt Shlian showed us how to do last Friday in the workshop. Even though he could only teach us basic things it was still interesting because the paper that we were making simple pop up cards out of can turn into something completly more extravegant. Making nice sculptures out of paper would be fun, but it just couldnt be fun for me, even though I like his work and I think that it is cool looking, I admire him because I do not have the patience to do something like that at all. One thing I have learned from doing these blogs and looking at artists work, is admirance. A lot of the work the visiting artists I have gone to listen to , have requires patience,desire and a true love for the art they do, it shows. The workshop taught me some new styles of cards and just pop up objects I could have somewhere. It was interesting, and something that I never learned in grade school. What made me so interested in this type of paper artwork, is just knowing it is paper and it still holds itself so well and even though it paper is flat, in the sculptures it is 3-d. It is yet another type of art that I wasnt too familiar with, or really even knew existed.

Image Essay # 11

This is a picture of Mel Chins Seven Wonders. I chose to do artwork by Mel Chin because I went to the movie film night on tuesday and his work interested me. In the video it really only shows his work having to do with the environment. By researching him more on my own though I have found out that he is more than just an ecological artist, but also a sculpter. The Seven Wonders is located in Sesquicentennial Park. I really like the look of this piece, to me it resembles the eiffle tower seven different times. It is kind of hard to tell on this image but when you get close enough to the gray there are little pictures within it. Even when the image is enlarged on the computer it is still diffucult to tell what exactly it is, but by outlines and such I can distinguish a globe and the outline of a person. I really like Mel Chins work, I think this is so because I didnt know his projects could be considered art, like the revival field or when he dug up the worms and worked with teh SPAWN project. It taught me that art comes in so many different forms, some like I would never expect.

Blog Entry # 5

The Artist I choose to look up was Michael Graves, and I was suprised to find a bunch of information about him and Michael Graves and Associates and Micheal Graves Design Group. Micheal Graves has contributed to the field of interior design in many ways. He is known for things like the Swan and Dolphin hotels in Disney World, which looking at through pictures amaze me. He is also known for the Alexander House, Crooks House, Hanselman House and the Portland Building. He has designed furniture shows and it is said that he would and has drawn anything you could think of. He has also designed things like china and silverware for Alessi, his own home was even featured in the Home and Garden magazine. By reading about him and looking at his work what impresses me the most about him is that when he first started out he had a hard time being noticed. I love to hear stories about people who struggled than made it to the top, just so they can prove everyone wrong. Yet he remains a teacher at Princeton and says that it takes up a lot of time but he did so well and owes something to the university. Micheal Graves uses dominance in different ways. Some of his work is dominent just because of the size and how extravegant it is. While others are dominent in color or materials that he uses. He addresses the human form by making things for the people and making them comfortable to sit in, use or live in. It is suprising but I actually have been influenced by his work, it is very well done and in a unique way. I think that it is something that I will research more on my own time. In his work Micheal Graves uses color that fits what he is working on, making the things he does look more comfortable and inviting. He uses colors and materials that go with what he builds to make the structures appear more natural and appealing.

Image Essay # 10

Our new project is called "THE STORY OF THIS PLACE". This is a picture of Wakula Springs Florida, and I visited there when I was younger. Wakula Springs was somewhere my grandpa took my brother and I. It was the most interesting place I had been to at that time in my life because the whole idea is to take boat rides through the reserve. The first is a boat ride with a clear floor so you can enjoy all the fish underneath and yet still see the animals that live above the water. Wakula Springs is known for its alligators. They are everywhere! It is not a bad thing mainly because living in Ohio my whole life I had never seen one before, it was amazing to see so many at one time and it is a moment that I will never forget. The second boat ride is called the safari ride where the passengers go through a more swampy area, still seeing the same animals it just gets more upclose and goes through a different part of the reserve. This picture is memorable because it still rates up there with places that I have been before and is one of the most beautiful places I have ever had the chance to visit.

Image Essay # 9

I choose this piece of artwork by Pepon Osorio because I really like the way he turned a bicycle into so much more. It becomes very eye catching and and all the extras on the bike look like symbols to make one big thing. In the video we watched Pepon said that he embraces contradiction, and to me this bike contradicts itself in many ways. It is so unordinary and I think that is why I like it so much. Pepon also stated that he recreates memory and sacred spaces and that makes me think this bike might have quite a bit of meaning to him when he was young. Usually his work provides an uncomfortable reaction, many of his art setups left people in the video cringing and this piece actually makes me smile because it is bright, shows no blood or caution tape like his displays did in the video. I also chose this piece to do an image essay on because it is so different than what we had seen in class that I would have not known he was the artist when I first looked at it.

Image Essay # 8

I choose to do this my image essay this week on one of Richard Serras art pieces. I had not heard of him before the video we watched during class, but after I saw what he could do I instantly liked his work. I think what I like best about his art work is the scale of it compared to people. It is easy to see in this photograph how large the object is compared to the person coming out of it. I also like value of the colors that he uses they are very subtle and I think that they help give his work a better look and feel. I also like that his work has nothing to do with what normal people recognize. It might just be me, but by doing that it makes people curious about his work, maybe more than just a painting or photograph. I also like that the texture of it is smooth, because even though it is smooth, when the light is on the copper certain ways, it is given a different color and in one sense a different texture. One other thing I like a lot about his work is that instead of just looking at it, there can be a hands on feel of the work.