Video Review

1. The first video I couldn't choose, because it was required. I chose the second video "A World Inscribed: The Illuminated Manuscript" because it seemed interesting. I was reading the summary on the side of each video to choose which one to watch and I saw this one included the invention of the printing press which I found very interesting in the chapters we have read. I chose the third video "Cairo Museum" because when I was younger I was very interested in Egyptian life, especially mummies, and the artifacts from that time. I saw in the summary that this video dealt greatly with Egyptian artifacts.

2.  Key concepts that I found interesting/learned were:

More Human than Human
- a representation of ancient past is Venus of Willendorf
- may have represented a motherly figure
- Nomadic people created their art (statues) with exaggeration, but ignored some features
- Living in Ice Age made them exaggerate fat and represent fertility because that's what they desired\
- Egyptian style never changed because they wanted the imagery to last forever
- Egyptians obsessed with order, therefore their style didn't change
-Culture is kind, values of society is how we depict the body
- Greeks believed in many Gods and Goddess's
- Greeks fixated with the body
- Gods took human form, and were perfect
- If you looked good, you were good
-Realities are exaggerated, which dominates our world today
- We don't like reality

A World Inscribed: The Illuminated Manuscript
 -Monks were fighting the devil with ink
 -Writers write so that the future may learn
 -Monks were to write what happened during their time
 -One Monk made a book, just to be able to write in it, then teach his writings
 -Their thoughts were scribbled in the books because they were not allowed to speak
 -Scribal errors were not to be made, because it would be transferred throughout the years in the text
 -Finishing a book called for a celebration, the scribes were allowed to add their own message in the end after copying so much
 -Printing press replaced scribes after about 50 years
 -Printing presses ended an era

Cairo Museum
 - opened in 1902
 -Contains the most artifacts in one museum on earth
 - 5,000 years of artifacts
 - contains 160,000 artifacts only half are on display
- the basement is full of hidden treasures
- difficult to decide what to put on display for the new exhibition

3.
The videos relate to the text because they talk about what we read in the text. All of the videos were about the ancient forms of art and writings, the video allowed us to view and listen to what the text also explained. The videos were able to go more in depth explaining ancient art than the text. The videos gave us another way to learn about what we read, the text and the video played off each other explaining to us what ancient art was. In the Cairo video it gave us A LOT of examples of what the Egyptian artifacts were.

4.
I really liked the videos, they allowed me to view and listen to what I was learning, which is a better source of learning for me. The videos related perfectly to the text which made it easier to watch and understand. I really like that the videos gave many examples and images of the artifacts and the art from that time.

Architecture/ Video Review

1. The key concepts I learned from the videos are..

Architecture: The Science of Design:
-Skyscraper's have two parts the superstructure, and the substructure
-Two different types of substructure (drilled into ground, built onto concrete)
-Winds increase the impact of the skyscraper determining on height
-Buildings over 100 ft can sway up to 1 meter
-Wind is broken up by building, creating a wind tunnel at the base
-Data is taken before building is built to determine the impact weather will have on the building
-Trees can be placed around the base of the building to collect turbulence

Classical Architecture:
-Reflects the needs and values of the time
-Each building is well balanced
-Inspired many other buildings throughout the world
-3 types of columns
-Each level of the Colosseum is a different design
-Became very popular style of housing for England

2.   These videos relate to the readings in the text because they go into greater detail about some of these sections in the chapter. The science of design video goes into depth explaining more about the weather conditions that can affect architecture. The classical video expresses the development of these buildings and designs in other parts of the world, and the meaning behind them.

3. I liked the videos, I liked the science of design better than the classical architecture video. They add depth because it gives us the ability to view and hear what we read.

4. I choose these films because when reading this chapter I was very interested in the classical architecture. I wanted to watch the film to see if there was anything I hadn't read about in the text. The other film I was interested in because I always found skyscrapers interesting. I have gone to Chicago a few times and I know they call it the "windy city" because of the buildings, and I was lucky enough to learn more about that in the film.

Sculptor, Glass, Ceramics, and Installation Art

1. I learned many key concepts from the videos....
    
Through the Eyes of the Sculptor:
-Limestone can be found in underground tunnels that can be cut out and used for sculptors.
-Restoration is the act of carving feelings back into the shape, and you need to put yourself in the shoes of the original artist
-Must always check the stone before carving, this allows you to listen for crack in the limestone
-Working on more than one sculpture at a time allows you to keep your mind fresh
-Writing/drawing on the stone helps develop the carving
-Layering the clay when building the model allows for better details and a more in depth look at the 

Glass and Ceramics:
-Glass is made from about 60-70% sand
-Glass can be remolded until it reaches the desired shape
-Ceramics are made from a clay base
-Ceramics are made from liquid then poured into a mold and heated 
-Glazing is the step in which the piece gets the shine/color
-Ceramics can help in the medical field (hip replacements)

Installation Art:
-Artwork defines the space, individual to each artists
-Can be made with mixed medias
-Can be video work
-Unique
-No determined size for it, can be huge or very small


2. The videos relate to the text because they explain what we read about, but go more in depth. In the text we read about the different types of art like glassblowing, ceramics, metal work, etc...in the videos we see first hand how these artworks are made step by step. We see from the beginning step to the end step how the art in these forms are made. The videos help us understand what maybe we didn't understand in the text. I also prefer video because I find it easier to follow along with. 

3. I enjoyed the videos, I always enjoys videos rather than reading, I can comprehend something that I view better than I read. These videos help us understand what we read in these chapters, and give us specific examples on how these arts are made. The videos help answer questions that we might have that the book doesn't answer. 

Blog Reviews

1. The first blog that I reviewed was http://kuekerel.blogspot.com/ the second one that I reviewed was http://colfelas01.blogspot.com/ . 

2. When I was reviewing both artist's pictures for the elements and principal blog I agreed with everyone. I really liked that pictures that they used, a few of the pictures had line and symmetry in them without being the focus of the picture. 

3. None of the images used in my peers blogs were the same as the ones I used from the art gallery. The images interested my peers just as they did for me. 

4. A couple of the images my peers used caught my attention both in the gallery and on their blog. Elena chose lots of paintings that were filled with color which grabbed my attention. Smoke caught my attention and I began to wonder why the shapes and colors were used in the artwork. 

5. I really liked the process of reading my peers blogs, it helped me to understand them more, and it helps build a sense of community within our class. I really like that it opens our eyes to how they think, and what art they like the most. 

6. I found their comments to be very helpful on my blog, they were positive comments so it made me feel that I did a good job. 

Art Visit

1.

 The first artwork I saw that made an impact on me was House of Collective Repair by Dennis Maher it was a mixed-media instillation made in 2012-2013. It was a collection of things from a house. It made an impact on me because it Maher said it "describes transformation of the city of Buffalo", I thought it was a perfect representation. Throughout the exhibit you can see the changes in the items. It was very fascinating to see the way he expressed the changes going on in our city. 

House of Collective Repair

The second artwork that I saw that made an impact on me was Kelly Richardson's video, Wagons Roll which was made in 2007. In this scene there is an old beat up looking car floating in mid air in front of beautiful mountains and landscape. It impacted me because it was a very real expression of the pollution that we are putting into the air. It made me begin to think about global warming and the environmental decay we are producing everyday when we are driving. 

Wagons Roll

2. 

The first piece of artwork that I felt a connection with was No. 15 by Ad Reinhardt. It was a oil on canvas and was very large, made in 1952. I connected with this artwork because it was very basic, and organized at the same time. It was a beautiful blue background with greens, blues, purples, teal square neatly placed onto one another, all in rows. I think I connected with it so much because I felt like I could re-create it.

No. 15

The second artwork that I felt a connection with was Philip Guston's untitled artwork that was ink on paper, from 1952. I think I connected with this art work because I felt as if it was a painting of raindrops. The drops were spread out so much on the paper that I could envision the raindrops hitting the paper, it reminded me of the weather outside, a heavy slush like rain. 

Untitled

3.

The first artwork that I wanted to know more about was Textile in the Greek room. It was linen and silk, and from the 19th century. There was very little information about this textile which lead me to be very curious. I was wondering who exactly made it, if it represented anything special, do the colors used in it represent anything, why did they add animals into it? The artwork left me with many unanswered questions. 

Textile

The second artwork that I wanted to know more about was Philip Lorca diCorcia's picture Head #6, it was a Fujicolor crystal archive print, very large and captured in 2001. Philip placed an X on the ground in Times Square and when someone stepped directly on it, he took a picture of them.  When I was looking at this picture I first focused on the man in the suit in the background, I began to wonder why he looked upset, where he was going, why he was dressed so nicely, if he lived in NYC, who is he?. Then i shifted my questions to the man in the front, I began to wonder who he was? where he was going? how old is he? I think I wanted to know so much more about this picture because of the little I knew looking at it, shooting a picture of a two random men leads to many questions. 

Head #6

Logo Design

1. I really liked creating a logo, it was fun because it was unique to ourselves. We could put whatever we wanted into our logo to make it original and our own. 

2. When I first sat down to create my logo I had a few ideas in my mind that I wanted to include:

• Something to represent my major- Childhood Education
• My love for music
• My nationality 
• My hobbies (softball,gardening)

     At first I started off with the idea that I would make a rectangular base that I would use as the Ukrainian flag (nationality) and then I would add the objects listed above into the rectangle. I quickly realized I wasn't crazy about that idea, it didn't seem as creative as it could have been. In my second sketch I thought I could turn a sunflower (hobby) into the focal point and incorporate the rest into it. I chose to put the Ukrainian flag into the middle, then work with including the others into the pedals. I didn't like how the music looked in the pedals, so I created my third sketch. I focused on keeping the middle the flag and creating everything around in the pedals, I decided to add the music notes as the stem. I liked this idea, but I wasn't sold on the pedals and their shape. I chose to switch the flower back to a sunflower, and kept the music notes as the stem, I focused the middle of the flower as holding my initials  and creating a softball because of the circular shape. Instead of adding an apple, or symbols for my major, I had the flower rest on a few books. For my final logo, all I really did was switch up the placement of my objects, except my flag...I decided to make my pedals into the flag, but only do half of my pedals the flag because I am only 50% Ukrainian.

Sketch 1

Sketch 2

Sketch 3

Final Logo

3. The most important discovery I made while creating my logo was the difficulty in creating a perfect representation, I had a lot of ideas to add into the logo ( that wasn't the problem), but when getting those ideas onto paper I realized how easy it was to dislike what you created. Placement of all my ideas was another thing I struggled with. I eventually just stopped, took a breath, and visions where to place the objects in my head before I drew them on the paper. 

4. The most important information I learned from all of our resources were the ideas of what I should add into my logo to represent myself. When reading the powerpoint it explained the use of emblems, from here is where I got my idea to add my nationality. The powerpoint also reminded us that good logos use the elements and principles of art, balance, scale, line, space,shape, etc. I enjoyed the videos, I really liked them because they showed us the creative process in creating an actual logo for a company. We learned that they go to others to get approved and their thoughts behind what they could change or keep the same. It was easy for us to get inspiration into the creative process through the use of the videos.