Museum Art Gallery 4

1. It makes a difference the way that galleries are laid out. This one was so confusing and I got lost so many different times and it ended up taking away from the art. When art galleries make galleries like be logical please otherwise I'm looking at the map more than I am at the art.

2. The use of shadows with 3d art can be really powerful. Thats something now looking back I wish I had tried. It can bring a whole different dimension and perspective to the piece. I remember when Rebecca did her final exam, she played with shadows and the whole class when crazy over it. I think next year it might be something that I might way to play around with as well.

3. Movement!! Though I think this would be really hard to do considering that I know nothing about robotics but the movement of these flowers caught my eye. Like shadows, they can bring a completely new perspective in as the piece ebs and flows into multiple pieces.

4. Art can be subtly political. When you think about political art you often think of like Frida Khalo but art doesn't have to be that explicit to be powerful. This piece was composed of a ton to tiny little photos of plastic bottle but together the artist was able to make it look like waves - a beautiful and powerful depiction of today's environmental scene.

Concentration 11

Problem solving: This was a really hard one to make. I used the massive balloons to make this piece and originally wanted to fill the plaster inside and then pump air into the balloon. It at the beginning looked like it was going to work because I was rotating the balloon so the plaster was covering all over the inside but it eventually ended up cracking. So then I tried pouring it on the outside but the balloon kept slipping so nothing was sticking. I tied a weight to the fastener of the balloon and then it worked. It was a tough piece to do but I think it paid off.

Connections: I think this ties in easily with the rest of my concentration. I like the fact that I didn't make a stand with it because I think it is texturally so interesting. It has a different feel compared to the other 2 pieces I made where I poured the plaster on top. This one almost looks like a crater to me which I kinda like.

Another breadth

Over the break I was hoping to get a piece done so I did. I ran over to Jane's house, took all of her cards, went to the too busy art friend, and bought a glue gun. I decided that I was going to make something awesome. So for whatever reason, I thought back to my cardboard form where I made the two hands and thought that maybe I would like to do something similar because that assignment felt very intuitive for me. So I thought okay I'll make a chest, with a gigantic rip in it and I'll make hands and then I'll make something to go inside of the chest that you could see through the rip. That did not happen. I got frustrated after a while so I made a rip and I made a little person falling. I really like the person I made of out cards and I think there is something there for me to work with for another breadth (maybe using paper). Yep, so thats my piece. I think its okay and if its photographed properly could look really good.

Concentration 8

Connections: This one ties in with the geometric shape triptych. I like it though because it looks like the shapes ground the paster just as much as the plaster grounds the shapes. I think if I do more touch ups I might make one bigger square so it looks a bit more proportionate so the composition is stronger. Overall though I think it ties in easily with my concentration

Problem solving: I'm going to be honest and tell you that I don't remember much about the last 2 weeks before spring break. I think I just followed the same routine as always.

Concentration 7

Connections and stuff: Yep this one ties in pretty well. I think it is the most "bowl" bowl I've made. But I love this bowl. I was really surprised how symetrical and round it came out. I used balloons for this one and made it a lot bigger than I normally do. And I was more careful when cutting it out bc I could tell that it was fragile but also really round so I wanted to make sure it lasted.

Problem Solving: I was trying to make it look like there were circles falling from above but it wasn't working... looking back though I really don't think I had much patience at the time. I'm going to try again soon.

Concentration 6

Connections and stuff: I think this piece marked a new facet to my concentration. The plan is right now to make 2 more pieces (so have a triptic) and that way when I upload it onto the AP board the three stand out together. Just the same, I thought I would do another triptic of the plaster coated on the outside of balloons so you get that weird texture. What I like about this series is that the geometric shapes make a big contrast against the plaster form. I was thinking that for my next one, I could flip a bowl upside down so it looks like the geometric shapes are holding the form up.

Problem solving: I had to make the geometric shapes twice. The first time I made the cubes too big and so they looked disproportionate compared to the plaster form. So I saved the original shape thing and then made smaller cubes so it would look right compared to the form. It took a lunch period to remake and so it took little time for what I think is a good reward.

Concentration 5

Culture: This concentration piece is a bit different than my other pieces - this is more abstract while making it very realistic. The bowls were used to look like egg shells so I really like this piece because it fits in the concentration without being obvious. I think this was an opportunity to do something pop art like. It reminds me of this museum I went to over the summer. The museum had a lot of pieces that looked like perfectly ordinary objects but were made out of weird materials. For example they had a basketball made out of glass. That museum inspired this space.

Problem solving: The bowls were the easy part. I just did the same procedure as I alway do and ended up having two bowls that looked very similar to one another. The yoke was the hard part and took some trial and error. So first I went up to the counselling office to find some crayons - luckily they had a ton so I grabbed a bunch. Then I had to figure out how to make the yoke look the best. So I went and talked to Mr. P and the two of us figured out how to melt the crayons the best way. We just mixed color until we got the most realistic look. So then we poured it onto a piece of wax paper and another on a plastic sheet. We froze both of them so it was easy to work with. Then we tried to melt hot glue sticks in the wok and we poured the melted glue on top of one of the wax blobs and with the other we poured the glue first and then stuck the blob on top. That worked okay but it was hard to control the glue. So then I tried just using a hot glue gun and pumped it out around a new blob of wax and the best gave me the best control.

Concentration 4

Problem Solving:
I approached this piece like I typically do with these plaster bowls. I kind of go in with a limited plan in mind. I knew generally that I wanted this bowl to have more of a seamless feel to it so I let it shape organically in the balloon. Once I filled it with plaster, I pushed in another balloon and filled with up with water. This was a piece that I just kind of cranked out without a whole lot of planning so it was in a way a nice surprise.


Cultural & Connections:
This piece ties in with the rest of my concentration easily because I think this is kind of what you would conventionally think of when you hear "plaster bowls". This may not be the most creative of them all but I mean I think it is a strong enough piece. I think it also ties in with the rest of the concentration nicely because it also continues the continuity of the fragile edges which I think are actually pretty nice and add good texture. What I like about this one in particular is if you look really closely, you can see that there are some tiny holes at the top. I think that makes this piece just a bit more interested and creates its own identity.

Concentration 3

Cultural: I think this piece really connects well with my concentration which is plaster bowls. I like it because it is conventionally unconventional. It doesn't exactly fit in with the rest of the concentration because the concept of the bowl is redefined as I flipped it upside-down. With that said though, I do think that it is tied together stylistically as I used the same sort of method where I coat a balloon on the outside with plaster. Overall I think it is a solid addition to my concentration
Problem solving: I didn't run into a ton of challenges that were unexpected when it came to this piece. Of course, like with all plaster forms, some cracked and broke but I was anticipating that. However, one thing that I run into a lot is that parts of my bowls always break. And as you can see here a large piece broke off of the side. But I didn't try to glue it back on because I feel like it helps you see the light better. Also something that I struggled with was the string. I was almost going to leave it as just a plain thin string on its own but I thought it looked too empty so I tried this friendship bracelet knot that I used to do as a kid but the pattern kept on getting messed up. So instead I took string and braided a line and repeated that three times until I had three braided chains. And then I braided those together so I had a texture but it wasnt overwhelming.

Elevated Bowl

1. Manipulation of materials
I think I would get a B+ on manipulation of materials because I think that I have good form on the bowl of itself. This was my first time using clay since the first grade so I like how I kept the bowl mostly raw and I think it has good movement to it. I think the stand could use a little work though. I think its missing something or just feels a little empty but I can't put my finger on it. I like how there is just a little touch of the glaze though to keep the piece interesting.

3D Concentration

1. Negative plaster forms.

Plaster forms with a focus on negative space

2. Ceramic bowls with plaster
I would try to do a lot of contrast with the glaze and the plaster

3. Micro science and art
I would specifically focus on micro science - so cells and organelles but then going even more and more micro so bacteria, viruses, molecules

4. I wish
Go around and ask people what their greatest wishes are and make them abstractly.

5. Cards and movement

Head Piece

Manipulation: I think I did okay with the manipulation of materials. I mixed media which I never do so it was a good and new challenge for me. With the reed, I had to learn how to work with it because I never had before. To make the spiral things, I got the reed wet and then wrapped it around glue sticks and tapped it at the ends to make the twisting stick. I let it dry, removed the tape and then glued them on. That was a new challenge for me but I liked it. In terms of the cards, I think the fact that I cut them into
rectangles kind of made them look like shards so it gave it new dimension. I also think it was good how I mixed using the face of the card and the back of the card.

Paige's Feedback:
-done with consideration of the cards
-has a lot of movement

Nat's feedback:
-didn't bend but got a curve -> clean and neat
-likes the spirally things


Problem Solving: At the beginning of the project, I had some sort of crown assembled from the AP art retreat so I knew that I should probably try to work off of it because it was already started. A big concern of mine however was that the crown wouldn't look interesting. If it was too symmetrical, then I thought it would look boring. So I talked to you and we talking about exaggerating one side. As I built up one side, I thought it was still missing something. The cards were blending in too much with one another. So I looked around the room and saw that a lot of people were using the reed. I thought it would be good to incorporate the reed because it would add another texture and help with the exaggeration

Sam's Feedback:
-likes the spiraling up
-asymmetrical looks good
-looks interesting
-good negative space

Nat's Feedback:
-made a cool headpiece
-did cards in a unique way
-addition of reed adds a different and good vibe
-good comp.

Bug Hybrid

Manipulation: I genuinely have no idea where I land in terms of manipulation. I really struggled with this material. I think that its very clear that it is made of wire and I didn't really try to hide that. I think if I had more time and more patience, I would have used the mesh some more because I like the look of the mesh and the extra texture. I do think that is something that I did well was manipulating wire to so that It had different textures from my peers around me.


Problem solving: I ran into a couple of difficulties because I did this at home over break. For example I didn't have any mesh so I had to get a bit creative to make the body have some sort of depth and shape to it. I took the wire that I had at home and I wrapped it around my hands so that I got a rounded shape and then wrapped it in different directions so that it looked like a full body. Also I did ditch my virus original wire so this was basically the product of an attempt to problem solve.

Paper Form

Manipulation: I feel like it would be a B. I mean I know this isn't fantastic. I think the fact though that tried to play with texture in shredding the paper demonstrated my attempt at manipulating. Overall though I feel like it's short of something but I don't know what. I feel like I could have challenged paper a bit more. Maybe before April I'll go back and add some detail when im not so close to it. I think that's the problem, I'm too close to it right now and so I can't see those easy fixes that I think my paper form needs.

Problem Solving: I think for problem solving I'm at a B+. I tried to figure out different ways to get the paper to burn in a way that I like it but I couldn't get it down. I tried balling paper and burning. I tried balling paper, glueing the shredded paper and burning. I then glued shredded paper and burned it. I liked the way that it burned but I realized that it could be aesthetically pleasing to photograph the paper burning because it goes with my concept better.

Cardboard

Over all I'm pretty happy with this piece because I think I was creative with my problem solving. I used balloons and rubber gloves to create the shape that I needed. I went into this pretty scared because cardboard is so stiff but I realized that i just needed to manipulate the materials I had to work for me. I knew going in that it wouldn't for me to try to make something that looked geometric because I would have become too crazy trying to measure each individual piece of cardboard but I was also scared that my piece would look really messy so I think that this was a good place in the middle. If I had to change something about it, I think I would have made the fingers a bit cleaner and longer but it was hard to control both the shape and the length when I was relaying on gloves.

Concentration 9 & 10

I was pleasantly surprised by this unit. I actually liked doing the plaster forms. I'm particularly happy with my first piece - the one where I injected red die on a condom filled with water and then put it inside a condom filled with plaster. I also like the red rim - I think it gives some dimension. I'm a little disappointed that the second one broke but I think its okay.

Intro to AP3D

My AP3D Goal:
I think my main goal for AP3D would be to remain calm. I'm pretty nervous about taking it just because I haven't worked in 3D since middle school so I really don't know if I will be good at it or if I like it. I think I have to adopt the mindset that things will go wrong when I create 3D art and that its just part of the process.

My personal goal:
I think this year everything is about balance. I feel like I am being pulled in a million different directions between school, family, and friends and so I have to find a way to fit it all in while making sure I have some non stress time to myself so I don't crash and burn (which I know will happen inevitability but I want to reduce the amount of times it happens). But I figured the way that I will remain sane is by making sure I have at least one night in alone on the weekend so if I want to I could watch a movie by myself or get work done that I'm feeling extra stressed about.


What is art?
Art for me is the purest form of letting yourself be completely vulnerable with creativity.

What is form?
The form of a work is its shape, including its volume or perceived volume. A three-dimensional artwork has depth as well as width and height. Three-dimensional form is the basis of sculpture.

There are some other terms commonly used to describe form and shape in composition; these have to do with what kind of representations the forms have. If we can recognize every day objects and environments, we refer to the images as being realistic, or naturalistic. However, if the images are difficult or impossible to identify in terms of our normal, daily visual experience, we may refer to the images as abstract.

Form and shape can also be described as either organic or geometric. Organic forms such as these snow-covered boulders typically are irregular in outline, and often asymmetrical. Organic forms are most often thought of as naturally occurring.

Museum Art Gallery Visit 3

While we were in Williamstown we also went to the MASS MoCA, a small kind of hipster, modern museum hidden in an old building. My mom and I went there just thinking we would check a Museum art gallery visit off the list - little did I know this exhibit would end up being so incredibly helpful. What we didn't know going in was that most of the museum was filled with 3D pieces, leaving me with many take aways.

The first thing that I noticed was that the lighting of the rooms really changed the interpretation of the art pieces. If you look at these photos, you can see that there is some sense of electricity. I feel like if the art gallery people lit the room normally, we would loose that sense of energy. It was almost like the whole room was a art piece itself. It was really a full body experience which I thought was really cool.

Another take away was the use of movement could take a piece from being interesting to downright terrifying. As you can see in the video, there was a table set up with little mundane objects. Alone the piece would have been fine. However, above the table was a robotic bird flying around in circles over your head. It made it feel like you were in some sort of nightmare as the music was also selectively picked to fit the intensity of the piece. It was probably one of my favorite parts of the entire museum as the flying crow almost commanded you to pay attention to it.


My last take away was that deceiving the eye can be one of your most powerful tools. Some of the first art pieces I had seen looked like just normal objects with nothing interesting about them. But then you would read the description and see that the deflated basketball was actually made of glass or that the rubber bands were also made of glass. It was so interesting because the artist got the texture completely right and you would have no idea unless you looked closer.

Another way one artist would trick your eye was by these really interesting drawings. They were drawn on bent glass but it looked like they were just drawn on a normal canvas. I realized that it must take so much talent and patience to do one of those pieces but they were some of my favorite in the gallery.

Museum Art Gallery 2

When I was visiting Williams College this summer for my mom's 30th reunion, one of her former classmates rented out the Clark Museum just for her class. The Clark Museum had just put up a new exhibit which featured nude painting from various eras in Europe. As I strolled through this intense exhibit with some of the most brilliant and education human beings in the entire world, I ended up having some very interesting conversations. Unfortunately, they didn't allow me to take photos.

I was talking to one of my mom's close friend Jen about how the depiction of women have changed in from then to now. For me personally it was very interesting comparing these two times. Today, within the click of a series of buttons, I could send a nude image to over 100 boys in my contacts. However back then (sorry don't remember the dates), men had to travel to private rooms where these erotic images were stored. It was a cultural taboo to go to these "art brothels" but today it can become almost like a competition to see who can get girls to send the most nudes.

This striking contrast has circled through my mind throughout my summer, even though it has been over a month since I was there.

I think what was also interesting about this exhibit was that the focus was on the theme rather than the aesthetic of the art itself. Of course, it was an art gallery like there is going to be focus on the art but when the guides were taking us through they really wanted us to look at the big picture. If you asked me what medium most of the pieces were in - I couldn't tell you. But I think that represents a bigger point. Art can be examined and different levels. It just depends how far we want to zoom out.

Overall, my trip to the Clark Museum was a fantastic experience.