Assignment # 5

Jazz music has no definate roots. I took a Jazz and American Pop music class last semester and found that there were lots of places that Jazz came from. One of the major developments in Jazz was when slaves were freed and moved into cities in the north. They were then allowed to be themselves and enjoy making music. Some jazz has roots in other places such as New Orleans. It is unique to Americans because it was written by Americans and is completely original to the United States.

In Peter and the Wolf:
Peter is represented by the strings. The duck is an oboe the wolf is and the bird is a flute. The grandfather is a bassoon, and the hunters are the woodwinds.

Classical music
Bach and Beethoven are examples of classical music. To me classical music sounds soothing and like something that people would dance to in lines at a fancy banquet. It reminds me of the movie the Pride and Predudice.

Film Art Event

I saw Tiny Furniture at the Nickelodeon Theatre.
In the establishing shot of the film, Aura the main character is in a large city. The time is in the 21st century and she seems to have an artsy style of clothing. Aura appears to be in some sort of slump by the way she dresses and her lack of interest in her weight and hairstyle. She doesn't wear any/much make-up at all. She is moving in with her sister and mother. This set the stage for my experience as a person who possibly will change/grow throughout the movie. The movie has a comical side as well as we watch her trying to become this person she wants to be.
Special camera angles I noticed throughout the film were ones similar to that of the angle on the poster shown above. A view from the ground. Her mother, a photographer, is usually the one capturing angles like this because she photographs tiny furniture as a career.
The film was an hour and forty minutes long. Honestly, I didn't really get anything out of it. It is about Aura, a 22 year old woman who moved back home after college and got a degree in film making. She has a few very strange youtube videos but that is the extent of her film career. It seemed to me that the meaning of the film was a woman reverting back to her childhood life/fantasies after being away at college. It looked to me like a "mid-mid life crisis" the one that can be experienced after not knowing what to do when you get your degree. One of the final scenes in the movie I found extremely disturbing. Aura and this man that she worked with have sex in a tube at night in the middle of a road while high on marijuana. It was hard to watch and I felt like this was not something she was striving for during the movie.
The roles of the characters were played very well. Each of them were quirky in their own way. They were very convincing. The music fit the movie really well. It sounded like the sound track from Little Miss Sunshine to me. The music was by teddy banks. I feel it supported the theme of the movie. The genre of the film was a coming-of-age mixed with documentary filming styles. 

As I mentioned before the film's message was unclear to me. In total I would say the message is about how difficult one may find it to move on after graduating from college. And losing your way and returning to old, childish tendencies.

Assignment # 4 Architecture

The McKissick Museum on campus has ionic columns. It also has a dome roof which resembles a hill, one of the most important architectural elements of importance. The style of this building is very obviously Greek revival. You can tell by its columns and the statues above them. However it has no cornice but it does appear to be a post and lintel structure. 

Assignment # 3 Aesthetics

My feet carry me farther and farther away from my warm bed on school mornings. I step outside to the chill of winter and push my hands farther into my pockets. The music in my head phones is up beat and I begin my dance to class. As I walk across the bridge wind kisses my face with its icy lips. Up and down the stairs I go, climbing the mountain to my destination... more knowledge. The naked trees wave saying "good morning" as I walk by. Up more and more stairs, I am nearing the summit. The air smells crisp and fresh, my breathing patterns have now sped up. The reddish brown bricks beneath my feet almost look like an optical illusion and my bed seems too far away to turn around. More stairs I climb. I open the door to my first class and find my seat. I still miss my warm sheets, but it will be a while before I visit them again.

Nessum Dorma by Pavarotti
My first thought, as many others was wow! this guy obviously cares a lot about what he is singing about. I started with a music note because it was what I was hearing then throughout the song I used different swirls/lines to represent the lines of the music and the curves in his voice. At one point he got extremely loud and that is why I drew mountains.

An Establishing Shot is usually the first shot of a movie. It shows where you are, what time period and what is going on. It is very important for the viewers because without it we would not know what is going on for a while.

Assignment #2

The Four Domains of CreativityThe four domains of creativity are fluency, flexibility, originality and elaboration. Fluency is when things flow for example when a painting has similar brush strokes across it it appears to flow. Flexibility is being malleable, or able to change. Originality, I would say is the most important of these domains. The ability to create something that has come from your own brain is originality. You could re-do the Mona Lisa using dominoes and it would be original instead of just copying each brush stroke. Elaboration is when there is more to the artwork than originally meets the eye.

The Feldman Method of Art Criticism
The Feldman Method forces art observers to view art in a different way rather than just "I like it, I don't like it." There are four steps to the method: describe, analyze, interpret, and judge/evaluate. The first, describe, makes the observer look at the basics of the piece. You can ask the questions- Who is the artist, what is the medium, how big is it, and what are the characteristics? The second step is to analyze the piece. To analyze you can use the elements and principals of design. Interpreting pieces can be difficult but some helpful questions are: what does it mean, does it create a metaphor, does it have an alternate meaning, or does it have a social meaning? Last, we are allowed to judge the piece, and say weather we like it or not.

Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh is one of my favorite pieces, but I can criticize it by using the Feldman Method. Describe- The painting is made up of mostly blues and it is night time, the artist is Van Gogh, its size is 29 in × 36¼ in and the medium is oil on canvas. Analyze- The painting shows many elements and principals: color, texture, line, space and movement, balance, proportion... Interpret- This painting to me shows some sort of darker figure growing toward the town, Van Gogh painted it while in an asylum so there are obviously some dark things going through his mind. Judge- As I said before this is one of my personal favorites, I love the impressionistic style and the way that the sky swirls around.

Biographical Statement

§  Have you ever made art? What kind of art do you like?

§  Have you ever made a drawing? A painting? A sculpture?

§  When was the last time you went to a museum? Gallery? Artist studio?

§  Have you ever been to a play? Opera? Art Film? Do you dance?

§  Under what conditions do you learn the most?

§  Why are you taking this class?

§  Has any of the arts ever moved you in any way? How?

§  What inspires you?

§  What is art?

§  Do you consider movies art? Music? Video games? Comics? Television?

§  Who decided what is good art? How do they know?

§  When you debate music or movies with your friends, what critical elements or standards do you hold them to?

§  What was the best movie of last year?

§  What is an “Art Film”?

§  What CD or MP3 is in your player?

I have made art. I took three high school courses for art, one of them was AP Design class, which I made a 3 on AP my portfolio, and got college credit for it! :) I enjoy many different types of art: drawing, painting, charcoals... So that answers the question about have I ever made a painting, as far as sculpture goes I have made a hand, a pot and a small dish from clay. Sculpture was probably my least favorite aspect of visual art, not because I don't think it is beautiful, but because it was too difficult for me! (Or i don't have the patience) But that left me with a new appreciation for sculpture(ers)

The last time I went to a museum was in October, I worked at a Halloween event in the Edventure Children's museum. Before that I went to many museums in Washington D.C. in the spring of last year. When in Greenville, my home, I visit the Galleries/ Art studios regularly. I have been to many plays. I prefer musicals (I have seen 3: Rent, Wicked and Spring Awakening) However, I have not seen an opera. I'm sure I've seen a few art films at some point or another.

I LOVE TO DANCE. I danced at a studio for 15 years before college. I learn the best when I'm doing. Kinesthetic is my learning pattern. Secondly I have to see it. Auditory is only good for memorizing my favorite song lyrics. I'm taking this class because it is required by my major, but that doesn't mean I'm not looking forward/excited about it. The arts have definitely moved me. I feel moved by something artistic almost everyday. Seeing the effort/ true feelings of artists makes me feel connected to them and it takes a strong person to let you into their head, maybe by painting or song or movement.

I get inspiration from many things, the mountains are probably most inspiring to me. I'll steal Andy Warhol's definition: "Art is what you can get away with." Art can be anything. It just takes one person to think it is art. Movies, video games, comics and television can all be art. Certainly they consider artistic approaches to make all of those things. And someone at one point probably drew out a blue print for each of those: therefore, art. For personal use the buyer decides what is good art. Art can be defined in principals, laws, rules and such but really it all depends on who is buying it/ paying to see it.

When debating movies I typically focus on the actors/actresses and main plot, if I like them or not. For music its about the singer and the type of music. Maybe not the best, but the most artistic movie I saw last year was The Black Swan. It was crazy. I'm not really sure what an "art film" is. I would guess that it is when the director focuses more on the artistic elements of a movie, like the scenes and angles. I would consider Little Miss Sunshine art film. I'm currently listening to a CD by Guster, a band that is not really well known but my brothers and I enjoy.