Clearing up Cubism

My first introduction to Cubism came in a ceramics class. Half the class worked on the wheel (including me) the others did hand building. Their assignments were all to be created through the lens of Cubism. Most of the students seemed very uncertain how to translate Cubism into clay, after all, clay is worked in three dimensions rather than the flat surfaces usually associated with the movement. There was a great amount of confusion and frustration, and some rather unattractive pieces were made. Later, in a drawing class, I was to do a drawing in Cubist style. My own research fell flat and I still did not really get what it was all about. Our text, P.O.L. finally gave some clarification when it stated that Picasso and Braque "became interested in depicting objects from several different points of view simultaneously." That was very helpful in my understanding; why my previous research had not phrased it that way is a mystery. Still, I'm not sure how I would transfer Cubism into hand built clay pieces and I remain thankful that I got to work on the wheel.

Perspective

After completing this week's reading I had the wonderful opportunity of teaching a lesson on perspective to my after- school art class kids. The majority had never encountered the term perspective before. The students range from 8th grade down to second, which can make for some very interesting classes! Still, they all really seemed to like this one. I started off by having them make a folded book with a page for each of the six elements of perspective we had discussed in our class the other day. I came up with some simple visual examples on the chalkboard to illustrate them and they really got it. It was pretty cool. I always let them find a way to complete their projects in a manner that both honors the idea of the lesson and maintains their confidence (just as needed for the middle schoolers as for the Littles.) I am looking forward to displaying their perspective pieces and they will be proud to see them up.

movie posters

I was intrigued by the movies that had multiple posters advertising them and how unalike these posters are. Case in point, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.

nudes,yesterday and today

I found our visit to the exhibit of drawings of nudes at Reed College's Cooley gallery fascinating. I have never done any drawing of nudes except for a couple images I reproduced from books, so it was interesting to see how this art was evolving during the time span of the collection. I had not known about the taboo on using a female model for life drawing, but it fills in a few gaps in the art history lectures!

I spent quite a while looking at images on the internet having searched "modern nudes" and other similar key words. If I had to make a solitary contrast between the ones we saw at the gallery and the ones I looked at today (and I looked at many), I would say that the gallery collection was largely preoccupied with depicting the nude as an anatomical study. Muscles and bones seemed to be the main focus, overpowering, in many instances, pose. The "modern" nudes seemed far less fixated on bulging muscles and every nuance of the body's construction being showcased. Of course, I did find photos of very sculpted muscular men, but the majority of drawings, etc. did not seem to obsess on muscles. Many of the modern ones employed some level of abstraction or featured partial figures, where as the old masters' work read more like an anatomy text book, striving for "realism" as they understood it. Overall, the many modern nudes I viewed had a softer appearance, both males and females. The artists seemed more concerned with the general effect of the image rather than rendering a painstaking record of the body.

What angle could this manufacturer possibly been going for? The ad tells us we will "get closer to our food" if we use paper towels soaked in lemon water as finger towels. Do they think this will bring us closer to the Earth? to the source of our food? Will it make us more connected to the environment or more Green? More sophisticated? Is its message that eating with our hands is better than eating with utensils? Is it trying to make us believe they are doing their bit for the health of the nation by staving off swine flu by cleansing with finger towels before eating? In my experience, finger towels are a touch of refinement. I cannot imagine someone going to the trouble of preparing finger towels in lemon water without using real cloth. We're not getting more in tune with the environment if we are cutting down trees to make an item used for ten seconds then thrown away. Yes, if you hold your food in your fingers, your fingers are closer to the food than with chop sticks or a fork, but are YOU? I can appreciate the tactile experience of touching food, but I don't think I'm going to race out to buy throw away paper towels in order to do so. I think I'll wash my hands.
How bizarre.

of art and murder

The section in our reading for the weekend about the Stalinist mandate to produce pictorial realism in art as a means to promote nationalism came as a shocker. While we in the USA have had our idealistic and self promoting art work, such as Rosie the Riveter and her genre and Norman Rockwell with the All-American perfect families and lifestyles, I am unaware of any instances where artists were forced underground in order to continue making art in the style they chose, or of artists who bucked the trend to die mysteriously in their studios. Amazing.

changing meanings, text / Image Hunt

I'm still doing a bit of techno- jousting with this blog, so pardon the installment plan for this assignment.

The first image is the "cover page". I had to include it because it was so cute. The three that follow are the different interpretations.

One image is a series of brightly colored "stuff" laid out in blocks. This is actual brain imaging photography and each square apparently represents a particular activity taking place within the brain. This is the high-tech interpretation of the image. This is how we are wired, (or re-wired), how we tick. Though seemingly abstracted, it is the "real" picture of the brain, which itself is a contradiction. The image evokes a sense of awe and mystery at the fascinating organ that controls every aspect of our lives. There is a certain vulnerability to having something so intimate, so much the essence of ourselves, being displayed like a piece of pop art. The image, along with the selected sentence, makes us stop in our tracks and contemplate the amazing and yet unthought of possibilities of science and the human brain.

Another image shows an extremely contented ferret luxuriating in a bed of flowers, eyes closed and seemingly listening to the flowers in lieu of looking at them. To me, this is the literal interpretation of the quotation. It nudges us to consider the ramifications of the scientists' experiments and what they might mean for us.

The image of the Eastern god deluges us with the possibilities of the senses and what it might be like to have them mixed up, or cross-wired as in the experiment. It evokes the notion of being removed from our human experience through meditation or other mindfulness practices. In the image, many heads and many arms are available for sensing, and many objects are present that could stimulate the various senses. While this image may originally be intended as a calm focus, in the context of the quotation, it conjures a cacophony of stimulation.