Failure

For my failure project, I decided to make an Irish dancing solo dress out of butcher paper. I've heard from multiple sources that making a solo dress without a pattern is very difficult. I don't have a pattern but ever since I started doing Irish dance, I've wanted to make one for myself. A dress typically costs $500-$1200, so if one is able, it's more worth it to make one rather than buy it.

Solo dresses are usually made out of high quality fabrics, such as heavy satin or velvet. They are traditionally embroidered with elaborate designs taken from the Book of Kells and accented with rhinestones, sequins, and all things glittery. For competitions, there are rules surrounding the dresses, and performance in the competition can be affected by the dress. The dress always has a cape in back, long sleeves, high neckline, and skirt above the knee. Styles and fashions for the dresses are constantly changing, most recently with increasing amounts of sparkles, brighter colors, and shorter skirts. A few examples of past and current styles:


Past:

Current:

     ^ back view







My failure:

In Irish dancing, you're supposed to dance with your arms and shoulders back. I could not do so very well in my dress. I actually ripped a bit of the collar trying to do so. The skirt was too long. It was very loud when I tried dancing in it. I didn't use a pattern, instead using a dress I already had and tracing its parts onto the butcher paper, so measurements were a bit off and some things didn't match up right. I had to re-fold the skirt several times to get it to the right width to fit the dress. The whole thing is held together with scotch tape. My dress mostly fits the current style of dress, but for the skirt length. I don't have elaborate celtic designs on it, but the designs I have would be appropriate for competition.

Inside view:

Final Test Question 1: Color Theory

I think abstraction is making something we would recognize into something less recognizable. Abstraction isn't typically representational, but one could find representation in it. When we painted our skin colors, we were abstracting our skin into something less recognizable, but one could still figure out that the little squares are a skin color. Our black and white paintings are abstract in that they aren't representational at all. They're just black and white forms on paper, but someone could still read emotions or other representational forms into them..

Modernism is a breaking away of traditional forms. When painting our black and white paintings, we used sticks, which is a breaking away from the traditional use of brushes. They are abstract, which itself is a form that breaks away from traditional, representational painting forms.

Color theory is so interesting. When we painted our skin color, it was interesting how the different colors of paper made the skin color look different. When initially mixing the color, I thought I knew what color my skin was, but then comparing it directly to my skin, it looked really different. So I had to mix in different colors that I didn't think would actually be mixed into a skin color.

A modernist might view these images and just look at the use of paint and nontraditional materials. A postmodernist might look at them and interpret them according to postmodern ideas of race and diversity, how only black and white colors were used for the abstract paintings and the controversies that could go along with that, or they would be interested in the use of skin color and ideas of diversity in color in the labels of black and white.

3 questions to students:
What are some other nontraditional materials like sticks that could be used to make abstract paintings?
What ideas about race could be portrayed through the painting of skin color on the different colors of paper?
Does there need to be meaning in art for it to be art? Why or why not?

Me on the violin

Here's a link to my new Soundcloud station. I may or may not continue to post recordings, but there are four recordings up on it of me playing my violin with my husband on the ukulele. My dad sings in one of them.

https://soundcloud.com/user-522473970

Enjoy!

Art 21 Presentation-- Natalia Almada

Natalia Almada

http://www.art21.org/videos/segment-natalia-almada-in-mexico-city

What are some qualities and manifestations of violence?

     Silence
     Fear
     Pain
     Dehumanizing
    
     Clothing industry
     War
     Domestic violence
     Bureaucracy
     Making food

There are some artists who depict graphic violence in their art, but those displays would not be appropriate in public schools. How can we explore violence or address issues of violence in our art without being too graphic?

     "Empowering" portraits of victims of violence
     Other good ideas that were mentioned in class that I can't remember now. :)

My response:

Natalia Almada mentions in the video that her mother became afraid of water after the death of her sister. The character in her film is also afraid of the water. She says how she wonders what could open a wound such as that in a person and she wanted to explore that in her film.

For my art response, I wanted to go off of her idea of opening a wound. I have an anxiety disorder and it is really painful for me to talk about and it makes certain experiences painful for me. Often, I am not able to look at some art because something about it triggers a panic (for example, the art of Julie Mehretu). I decided to challenge myself to make a work of art that bothers my anxiety. Because I knew it was going to bother me, I couldn't bring myself to even begin working on the project and I had to have my husband start it for me. He drew some basic shapes and I went off of that. This is what I came up with:

Dan Barney

Dan Barney came and talked about a few books he brought and interesting ideas he found in them. The books were "Reading the Way of Things," Alien Phemonenology, or What It's Like to Be a Thing," and "The Quadruple Object." I don't remember the authors. A few notes from the first book that I thought were pretty cool were:
     Artists depict the "space between the tables." Be okay with that space of not knowing.
     Art loves ambiguity.
He also spoke about object orientology.

We took a trip to the MOA and looked at the Potato Eaters exhibit. It was fascinating and I liked the artist's style in her portraiture.

"Art isn't art unless it's difficult"

https://youtu.be/idLpBaB7JWE?t=2m37s

Just for your enjoyment, a short clip from Phineas and Ferb: Night of the Living Pharmacists. You can just watch the first 10 seconds or so when the clip starts. I don't necessarily agree with the statement, but I thought it was funny. :)

Chaco Canyon Culture trip

Jethro Gillespie

Jethro talked to us about his mobile gallery and his quilt. I love the idea of the mobile gallery. It's a great way to get students engaged and more dedicated to the art-making process. I think they would care about their art more, since it would be displayed for people to see. In my high school, some students' works would be selected to be pinned up outside the classroom, and once a year we would have a school-wide show with teacher-selected works, but the displays felt very impersonal and often wouldn't have a name attached. I wish we had had something cool and personal like the mobile gallery. I think I would have worked harder on my AP portfolio than I did.

I think the design and purpose behind the quilt is beautiful. I think I would go crazy making all those tally marks, but it's a very cool idea.

Anything worth doing is worth doing badly

Anxiety is a huge struggle for me. It holds me back. It inhibits my ability to complete assignments because I'm afraid of doing them wrong or badly.

I'm going to counseling for my anxiety and this week my counselor suggested something to me. He said to tell myself, "Anything worth doing is worth doing badly." It's a new idea for me. I hate trying to do something and having it not turn out right. I'm embarrassed to turn in an assignment that isn't done fully or correctly. I'm afraid to fail at something.

This idea will help me a great deal in school, but I think it will also help in my art. Art is definitely worth doing for me, so why not do it badly sometimes? I can't be good at everything my first try. I can't always make a masterpiece work of art. Perfectionism doesn't typically help my art. It's okay to do it badly. I may not get the grade I want. I may not receive the praise given to good art. But that is okay, because I am improving. I am doing something worthwhile, even if I'm doing it badly.

Art vs. Design

What is the difference between art and design?

I feel like design is typically a form of art that is created for a specific purpose. It is less of an "art for art's sake" type of thing. Design is more commercial, more publicized.

Art is less public. Art is created because it can be, not because it needs to be. Art can be very exploratory. Not that design can't be, but art is more so.

Modernism

Modernism is about art for the sake of art. It's about simply creating. Modern art, I think, is not about making something representational, as it is with other art movements. It's about feeling and movement and exploration. In the Modernist Painting reading that we had, it says, "Realistic, illusionist art had dissembled the medium, using art to conceal art. Modernism used art to call attention to art." I think that, much like modern dance, modern art is a break-away from traditional art and is instead an expression of freedom.

Making it Small in Hollywood--response

I think the two pieces suggest that we should not be afraid to fail. It takes a lot of time and hard work to get our artwork to the point where we are satisfied and happy with it. As we are learning how to make art, we need to practice and mess up and fail a good many times before we can get it right. Not every artist can be a prodigy and get it right the first time. It's okay to make art that's just okay. There will be some people that love it, some that hate it, no matter what you do. 

Personally, I am a perfectionist, so it's hard for me to let go of trying to make it perfect the first time. It is difficult to experiment with new mediums because I haven't figured them out yet, which is the reason for experimenting. I have ideas and visions of how my art will turn out, but it's frustrating when it doesn't get there, or if I think it's there but then it doesn't feel right and I need to change something. I guess I just need to let go of my need for perfection and be okay with it not turning out right. I can always try again and again.


Original post: http://397issuesincontemporaryart.blogspot.com/2016/09/httpwww.html

Aesthetic Autobiography

Brandon Dorman
Georgia O'Keefe
me
Mondrian
Inka Essenhigh