Project #1 Journal

I chose the subject of Chuck Close because I think that he is an incredible artist. Close suffered a rare and massive spinal artery collapse, became a paralyzed from the neck down, went through physical therapy and regained use of his arms and some use of his legs, yet he still relies on his wheelchair for day to day use and function. He re-learned how to paint by attaching a paintbrush to his hand and painting. Close works on such a massive scale (larger than life) and yet he is still in a wheelchair. It completely amazes me that he has still been so driven to continue his work after all that he has been through.

I used Powerpoint to make this presentation. I've worked with powerpoint before, so it wasn't anything new and fancy for me to deal with. I still have some troubles with certain things, as each year they update their software and things get changed and moved around. Powerpoint is fairly easy to work with, and I enjoy making decent presentations with it. I think it can really be utilized as a great teaching and learning tool, combining the aspects of visual presentation with verbal presentation.

One thing that I didn't like too much about this project is the use of transitions and audio and all. I used two videos for my audio, but I am a very simple, clean design type of person, and I feel that transitions are tacky, in a sense. I am sure they can be awesome if used well, but I just don't enjoy them. That was a struggle for me, was trying to make the slideshow look well while still adhering to the requirements. I also didn't make my slideshow very fancy, because I tend to feel that it can look nice, but will take away from the pictures and the point of the presentation. The point of the presentation isn't to look pretty, it is to inform your audience. Looking good is a bonus.

One thing I needed help in figuring out was how to import a youtube video into powerpoint. I've never done that before so I had to look it up on the internet and be taught how to. It was an interesting process to learn. It actually brought me to a youtube video to learn how to do it. I learned something new.

I sort of disliked the large amount of things that needed to be done for this project. It's been hard to make sure that I am on top of everything and getting it all done on time. I'm having troubles with this class in general, but I think that is my lack of organization. It is hard to remember that something is due on Friday when we only meet once a week, and I forget to check Angel often enough to be reminded about it.

I could definitely use this presentation, lesson plan and webquest to teach a lesson to middle and high school students. They are interested and skilled enough in art to understand who Chuck Close is and what his objectives and ideas are in his portraits. I think students would enjoy this project to, as they get to be vain and draw themselves and they willl also be able to draw very realistic and then more abstract.

Blog Assignment Four.

http://www.presentersresource.com/

That is a resource that can be used for creating Powerpoint presentations. I can work fairly well with Powerpoint, so I haven't needed to use a resource website so far, but I believe that this one would be very helpful. It provides you with free templates, backgrounds, settings, tips, resources and much more. There is also a section devoted to using Powerpoint in the classroom, which would be an incredibly useful tool for anyone who wants to further divulge into using Powerpoint as a teaching tool.

Blog Assignment Three.

Assignment:

After spending some time at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, ask yourself these questions:

Which artworks make an impact or impression on me? Why?

Which artworks do I feel a connection with? Why?

Which artworks would I like to know more about? Why?

As a future art educator, you should list at least five artworks for each question.

Response:
Which artworks make an impact or impression on me? Why?
I really enjoyed Gillian Wearing's "Album" series really made an impression on me. I thought it was really neat that she completely recreated, down to the button, portraits of her family members, with wax masks and wigs and the works. It was really neat to see how she could transform herself, but she left a small portion of the fact that it was all fake. She always left her eyes as her own, and would leave the wax mask around her eyes unfinished.

I was excited to see William F. Weege's work in the "Strange Brew" exhibit at the Albright. I had never seen his work before, but my printmaking teacher brought us over there to look at Weege's prints. Weege's prints are very cool; they are multi-layered and use groovy 60's colors, and the series at the AK has a pretty neat concept to the series as well.

Joan Miró is an inspiring artist that creates such interesting and lively works. His "Carnival of Harlequin" is a truly interesting and inspiring piece to look at. He really brings your imagination to life.

Jeanne Dunning has two pictures in the exhibit upstairs, titled "Tongue" and "The Blob 4". They were very intruiging to look at, and created a sort of disgusted sense in me. "The Blob 4" left me sort of disgusted, because it simply reminded me of a very obese person. While there is the impression of a small figure underneath the blob, it is unaviodable to make the connection between the image and an obese person.

Robert Motherwell's "Elegy to the Spanish Republic" is a very abstract piece that I have always admired. Motherwell's work alone is something that I have always admired. I enjoy his use of geometric yet organic shapes, and his stark contrast and bolder colors.

Which artworks do I feel a connection with? Why?
Giacomo Balla's "Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash" is a painting that I have loved since I first sw it in Carol Hammond's AED 200 class. Seeing it at the Albright is always really wonderful. I love the pure sense of movement and speed I feel when looking at it. That, and I love dauschunds.

Giorgio de Chirico's piece "The Anguish of Departure" is a haunting piece that I really feel a connection to. It has this harrowing sadness that just envelopes me when I look at it. His use of colors, the empty landscape but for the two dark figures in back and the imagery of everything being dwarfed by the tall smoke stack all really create this wholly empty feeling and a sense of nostalgia.

Tim Hyde's "Untitled 'Indiana'" photograph is beautiful. I've always loved nght pictures of bare parking lots, surrounded by bleakness and blackness, with their streetlight illuminating only certain parts of their surrounding world. Hyde's photograph is a beautiful image of a warehouse or factory at night, which illuminates a thin and small horizontal plane of the entire image. The rest of the image is pitch black. Images like this remind me of the simple beauty in life.

McDermott and McGough's "In the Hush of the Night" piece is a piece that I love. I have an affinity for old noir movies and just older movies in general. There is something beautiful and sad about them, and this piece brought both of those feelings to me. With "THE END" in the top half of the picture and the woman laying in the bed and reaching out underneath... it's depressing and has a gripping sadness to it.

Which artworks would I like to know more about? Why?
Robert Rauschenberg's piece at the Albright Knox is something that I always admire and enjoy. Every time I walk around the Albright Knox, I stand and admire Rauschenberg's piece for a long time. I don't know too much about him or the piece, but I love the mixed media and how he displays everything.

There is a piece by Jess in the "Strange Brew" exhibit. It is a collage that is outstanding and incredible to look at. I've heard that his work is rather large and very involved, which would be incredibly interesting to look at. I'd like to know about him and his life, and why he chooses to work with such in depth collages.

Matthew Barney is... odd, for lack of a better term. He is incredibly interesting to me, although I know little about him. His works are hard not to look at and they really pull you in. His video with his wife, Bjork, was impossible not to watch for at least a few minutes.

The entire upstairs exhibit, titled Wall Rockets, was more or less dedicated to Ed Ruscha. There were a few of his works, as well as a lot of portraits of him. I'd be intersted into further looking into his work and what he has inspired amongst other contemporary artists.

In the "Wall Rockets" exhibit upstairs, Tom Lazzarini has a sculpture piece titled "gun(i)". It is a very stretched out looking gun, that is very interesting to look at. It creates such an illusion and a game of sorts when looking at it, trying to figure ou how exactly it looks the way it does. It is something you have to see. I'd be interested in looking into Lazzarini's process of how he makes his sculptures like that.

Blog Assignment Two.

Assignment: From the RSS feeds you set up in class, select 2 quality feeds that relate to a topic that interests you and discuss your opinion on how you could use this information in your K-12 art classroom.

Response:

FEED ONE: http://www.webring.com/hub?ring=artteacherswebri
One of the RSS Feeds that I am subscribed to is an Art Teacher's feed. This feed can provide me with lesson plans and ideas that I can take and transform into my own if I desire to teach elementary school, and transform them into more complex assignments for older students. Each lesson gives vital information about what grade it can be used in, what the lesson is, key-concept goal, aims and objectives, materials, evaluation and other important parts of the lesson. It is extremely helpful in creating a lesson plan, as well as evaluating your method of teaching, by comparing and contrasting your created plan to the ones provided.

FEED TWO: http://www.photographica.org/
I am subscribed to this photoblog feed, which I think can be used as a resourceful tool for ideas for lessons. By looking from photo to photo, their challenges and bloggers submissions, I can borrow ideas and concepts and transform them into a lesson for my students. Ideas can be found anywhere, and looking at other art is a great way to find ideas.

Blog Assignment One.

Assignment: Why do you want to be an Art Educator?

Response: Hmm, what a question. Whenever someone asks me that, I always feel like I have the most cliche, unoriginal answers: I like art. I like kids. I want to teach. Blah blah blah. Really though, those are my answers.

I love art; it is my passion and what drives me. I see beauty and art in everything. I have always wished that I could make films and take photographs with my eyes and ears, and have little movies to show people from my day to day life, from my eyes and ears. Then they could see how I see the world, with all of it's beauty and joy and sadness and possibilities. I think that if people could do that, the world would be a different place (and I really do think that). Art influences and changes people, in a whole world of ways.

I like kids; I enjoy young children, their innocence, curiosity, and how they have the wildest imaginations. My five year old cousin recently asked if she could see my boogers, and looked up my nose. She then proceeded to tell me that it looks like my boogers are having a tea party with a princess, and she meant it. She trapiezed away five seconds later. Children can be easily influenced but also set in their own beliefs - try telling a six year old that Santa isn't real. Most of the time, they won't believe you and will probably yell at you or get upset, and they'll continute to believe. They are wholly innocent in so many ways, and I wish that people kept certain aspects of that with them as they grew up.

I like teens too, as in midde school they are in that in between stage of growing up and staying young, finding themselves and becoming who they are. They are still in that stage in high school too. Middle school and high school students are still impressionable, they are (hopefully) open-minded and eager to learn. I think that two of my favorite books, The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky and The Catcher In The Rye by JD Salinger, both really embody this concept: the innocence of youth and growing up and learning and becoming your own individual, while still being influenced by others and becoming who you are by making your own choices and making your own mistakes.

I want to teach; teaching at an upper level would be enjoyable, as I feel that I could connect with the students more, relate to them and share experiences, thoughts and ideas. I could become a sort of mentor or tutor for students, informing them of artists and galleries and openings, while still letting them have their own minds and concepts and ideas. As an art teacher, you aren't meant to put your ideas into their heads, but to create a web of ideas for them to discover themselves. You can be the foundation of the house, but they have to build it themselves. With kids, you can delve into their world full of everything and anything. Their imagination can become yours, and vice versa. You can teach them all about art and get them to be excited and interested in it. You can create that spark that becomes their drive and passion for art. You are where it starts.

I guess that is more or less my answer.