Woodblock printing

Woodblock printing is a technique for printing images originated in China and later spread throughout East Asia. The technique uses a wooden block that is carefully prepared with a knife, chisel or sandpaper. The white areas are cut off while the actual images will be at the surface. The block would then be dipped in ink and press against paper or fabric to create woodblock printing. To use different colors, multiple blocks are prepared, one for each color. There are three methods for woodblock printing, stamping, rubbing and printing in a press. All of these methods were used 400-500 years ago when the movable type hasn't been invented yet. Imagine the amount of patience needed just to create one painting, and the amount of work that one has to put in. It is amazing how woodblock artists make these highly detailed pictures with just a wooden block and knife.

The art of glassblowing

Glassblowing is a technique that transforms molten glass into a bubble, which is then worked into a desired shape. Many glass artists use this technique to create wonderful pieces of artworks using glass. Surprisingly this technique has been around for a long time, it was first invented by Phoenicians at around 50 BC, and until today people are still using this method to form glassware. Although there are newer methods to form glass today, the glass blowing method is still in use by many glass artist. In fact this old-fashion method of creating glass could have been used to make one of the glassware you are using right now!

Here is a video of how the entire process works.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bErxv6Wl7wY

Land art, nature's form of art

Land art is a form of art that is done on a landscape by using materials that is created in nature. Some of these materials include soil, rock, branches, leaves and water. This type of art exist in the open, far away from civilization. The picture above is called the Spiral Jetty, created by Robert Smithson, it is 1500 ft long and is located in northern Utah, it is one of the most famous pieces of land art up to date. One negative aspect of this form of art is that they are not preserved, the artworks are left to erode and change under natural conditions. So in the next few decades, the Spiral Jetty may look completely different, or worse, it might not even be there anymore.

Grass Sculptures

Imagine having this on your front yard, how cool would that be! I always thought that sculptures were made with marble, wood or clay, but not after I saw this picture. These sculptures are truly a work of art, it must have taken the artist a long time to trim the bush into the figure of an elephant. Not only do these sculptures look awesome, they also provide a way for us to combine nature and art. Using grass as a medium for sculptures can be beneficial for the environment, and it is also very cheap. Instead of purchasing a block of marble for sculpting, these sculptures can be made in your very own backyard, with no cost at all! Although it might require some creativity and many hours in the sun, but the end result is definitely worth it.

The Titian exhibit at the High

Yesterday I went to the Titian exhibit at the High museum and saw the famous paintings from the Venetian Renaissance. Overall I thought the Titian exhibit was pretty interesting, I was amazed at how big some of these paintings were and how detailed they were. The Titian exhibit takes up a small section of two different floors, the 2nd floor of the exhibit had  sketches of Titian and a few paintings, the 3nd floor of the exhibition contain the The Dianas. I really liked how they organized the exhibition in the 3rd floor, they gave each of the paintings a golden frame and each of them had their own wall, the space was very opened and there were a lot of free space to view these paintings. I spend most of my time at the contemporary art section however, because there were a lot more art work over there, I especially like the furniture designs, all the design chairs looked amazing and I really wished that I have one of those in my dorm! Anyway, the Titian exhibit was interesting, I didn't spend that much time on it though, since I am more into three dimensional art than paintings.

Fireworks as a form of art

Fireworks were invented in ancient China in the 12th century to scare away evil spirits, and now fireworks are pretty much everywhere. From the opening ceremony of the Olympics to Independence Day, fireworks have been a sign of celebration. Fireworks can have so many different colors and effects, including the ring, willow, peony, cake, roman candle and many more. Fireworks are so popular because they are a form of art and it can be very entertaining if organized well.

Cairo Museum

So since we were talking about museums in class yesterday, I thought I make a blog post about one of my favorite museum, the Cairo Museum. The Cairo Museum contains over 120,000 ancient Egyptian antiquities and has 9 mummies on display, including the recently found Queen Hatsheput. The Cairo Museum contains the most Egyptian artifacts in the world! The most interesting part of this museum is that it has the mummified remains of many famous Pharaohs, including Ramses and Tutankhamun!

The tallest building in the world, Burj Khalifa

Located in downtown Dubai, the Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world. It has over 160 floors and is 2717 feet high. This building is truly a work of art, the unique design incorporates both cultural and historical elements particular to the region. The design of this building was actually influenced by a flower called Hymenocallis., like the flower, the building has a triple lobe footprint. The three lobe footprint makes up the elements arranged around a central core of the building. The cross section of the tower gets smaller and smaller as the height increases. This tallest building in the world will also housed more than 1000 pieces of art, including the work of Jaume Plensa. So not only is this building itself a wonderful piece of art, it will also have an artistic interior for tourists to admire.

Reflection on the visual essay on public art

At first when I read about the instructions about this project, I was completely clueless on what my theme should be. I asked myself whether I can try to be creative and think of something completely different, but it is easier said than done. So finally after brainstorming through many possible themes, I finally decided on a simple yet interesting theme, public art reaches for the sky. Since we are in downtown Atlanta and the population is very dense, there are many buildings that are extremely tall. Along with some monuments on campus, I put together 10 pictures that visualizes how public arts are reaching for the sky. My presentation was rather boring however, as I just described the history and designs of each of the buildings and monuments. I was also extremely nervous during my presentation, and that's why I forgot a lot of the things that i memorized for this presentation and had to constantly look back at my "cheat sheet".

Watching all the other presentation was also a great experience. I thought it was interesting how there could be so many different possible themes. There were themes about old versus new, graffiti, definitions of public art, comparison of two art objects, art at different angle, nature, and even steps! I learned a lot from watching how other people present, such as their hand gesture, their facial expressions and their overall body movement. Especially since I am not a good public speaker, watching all of these presentation will definitely help me in the future when I have to do the same thing in front of my employers. 

Working on this project had been a terrific experience. Although I got pretty frustrated due to the fact that my camera and shaky hands made some of my pictures really blurry (I took over 200 pictures, with 80% of them completely unidentifiable), the overall experience was awesome and I had a lot of fun trying to be creative. 

Origami art

Origami has been around for a long time, and it has been one of our favorite hobbies in our childhood. You might remember the paper airplanes you made when you were bored in class or the paper fortune teller that was suppose to tell your fortune by a combination of numbers and colors. But what you don't know is that they are a form of modern art. Origami first originated from Japan, and it spread throughout the world as it gain popularity as a special form of art. This form of art bends and folds papers in a certain way such that it creates a three dimensional figure. Some origami figures require months and months of careful folding and bending to create. This form of art is so special because it is made of merely paper, thus anyone can do it. So next time you come across a piece of paper, try doing some art with it!

 

Theme for Visual essay

While walking on campus looking for pictures, I saw many tall interesting buildings as I look down the horizon. These buildings each have a unique design and I thought that this can be public art. So I took many photos of these buildings, along with a picture of the campanile and a couple of other objects that I thought were interesting. As I look back at my picture, I can only see one theme. All of my public art is getting taller and taller! Almost as if it is trying to reach the sky. This make me realize that nature intends for humans to make progress, reach for new heights, and that's why the things that we make are getting taller and taller. This theme of progress can be seen all my pictures, because it shows the progression from shorter objects to the tall magnificent buildings of downtown Atlanta.

The earliest form of art, cave paintings

Art has existed since the beginning of the stone age when cavemen learn how to carve images using stone tools. From the rise of the human race to the 21st century, art has continue to exist and has evolve along side humans. The cave paintings are as important as any of the arts we have today because they can provide us with a lot of information about the culture and history of our beginnings. These cave paintings can have an indirect effect on us today because it shows how art has evolved to the many different forms that we have today. It is also amazing how the cavemen back then can draw to such fine details given the tools they had. This shows that anyone can be a artist because art can be so easy that even a caveman with rocks and sticks can do it!

The world's youngest professional artist, Arushi Bhatnagar

Arushi Bhatnagar is a child prodigy when it comes to art. Believe it or not, she started painting when she was only two months old by using her hands and feet. When she was eleven months old, she sold one of her paintings for 5000 rupees (about 113 in American dollars), which makes her the world's youngest professional artist in the Guinness book of world records. It is quite hard to imagine that someone can be a professional painter before the age of one, but Arushi made this possible with her natural born artistic skills. As of now at age 6, Arushi has painted over 3000 paintings and has put up 21 exhibitions in 10 cities. This is truly remarkable, especially for someone so young. If Arushi has already accomplished this much at the age of 6, imagine what she would accomplish when she grows up. With her gifted art abilities, Arushi's future is filled with opportunities, and she will probably become one of the most famous artists of the 21st century.

Optical illusion

I always thought that optical illusion is one of the most impressive form of art, because the artist has to spend so much time to planned out where everything is so that it would create the optical illusion. Optical illusion is like a puzzle, you have to look for certain features to tell what is hidden in the image. There are some that are easy to the naked eye, but there are some that will require the utmost concentration and even hours of time to figure out where the hidden image is. This is why optical illusions are so much fun, they challenge your brain to distinguish different image in the painting.

Funny sculpture

I want to share this picture with everyone because I thought it was funny how the hands are positioned in such a way that it looks like there is a giant living in the water. I am sure that's also the artist's intent when he sculpted this, and it made me realize that art also have a humorous and goofy side to it. The artist probably wanted the tourists to stop by and look at the giant hands, or maybe he wanted to scare little kids by making them think there is a monster in the water. But whatever the artist's intent might be, this sculpture will definitely get the attention of wandering onlookers.

Body art

This picture caught my attention because I thought it was amazing how the artist was able to position the mouth of the fish  so that when he opens his mouth, the fish of the mouth also opens. I also like the fact that they painted their face that way in the love of art. I also thought it was funny how the expression of the fish matches the facial expression of the person, the artist must have thought about that as well when he painted the fishes on their faces.

Is so REAL!

I came across this street art painting the other day and I was just utterly amazed by how real the 3D effects is. The painter must have spend so much of his time looking at different angles to make sure that when the audience look at it, it will have a three dimensional effect on them. This 3D street art painting impressed me the most because it stretched through the entire street (well at least when I look at it from this perspective).

Water fountain art

I was surfing the web the other day and I came across this picture of a fountain, and I thought in my mind that this is probably the most unique fountain that I have ever saw. Turns out that the name of this fountain is called North South East West, and it sits in the garden of the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin.The artist who designed this unique fountain was Lynda Benglis, and she is an artist who emphasizes on "getting paint off the wall". I agree with her emphasis that more art should be "off the wall" because art can also be in many different mediums such as ceramics, rubber and rock.

The most popular form of art among teenagers: Japanese anime art

Dragon Ball Z, Pokemon, Gundam, Digimon, any of these names ring a bell? Japanese anime has been very popular in America, and it has been a significant part of our childhood. From the popular addicting pokemon games that took up hours and hours of our time to the Dragon Ball Z action figures, Japanese anime has played a significant role in our childhood. But why is anime so popular, the reason lies behind the art of the anime, the intricate details and the bright colors of its characters and settings lure in many young viewers. Japanese anime also has a huge influence of modern art, many people are exposed to art because of their interest in anime. People try to recreate their favorite anime characters on paper, and therefore got themselves involved in the world of art.

Baxandall Patterns of intention

In Baxandall’s essay, he states that people don’t explain pictures, but instead we explain remarks about pictures. He states that in every explanation there is always an implied description of the painting. This I totally agree with because one can’t explain something about a painting without referring to a particular feature of it. Baxandall also states that a painting cannot be created merely from descriptions, because a painting is much more than merely descriptions. There are things such as colour sequences, spatial relations and even proportions. This is why art is so special, because it can look so simple yet so complicated at the same time.

Las Meninas

At first when I look at this painting, I thought it was just another ordinary painting involving people in Elizabethan clothing. But after reading Foucault's essay and analyzing it in class, I realized that there are much more going on in this painting. Foucault emphasizes the relationship between the artist and the viewer, and after reading his essay, I started to look at the painting in a different way. I was wondering about what the author was trying to tell us, why the characters were positioned this way, and what were they doing. That night I researched about the painting, and it turns out that the people in the painting were royalty, and the two people in the mirrors were King Philip and Queen Mariana. And the position that they were standing would mean that the artist in the painting was painting a portrait of them, while the actual painting Las Meninas was a painting of the artist painting a portrait of the king and queen. I thought this was really interesting because the artist incorporated himself in the painting, and so the real artist (not the one in the painting) was painting a picture of him (the one in the painting) painting a picture of the viewers, which at the time when it was painted, was actually the artist himself! This all sounds very confusing but that’s the beauty of it, art is mysterious and fun.

Aristole V Plato's view on art

After reading Against Interpretation by Sontag, I've learned that Plato and Aristotle each had their own unique view on art. While Plato thinks that art is useless because they are merely imitations of objects that already imitate other things, Aristotle views art as a form of therapy. I have to say however that even as someone who isn't artistic at all, I have to disagree with Plato that art is useless, because I believe that art does play a role in our everyday lives. For an example, in psychology art can determine a person's personality, art can be therapeutic and it can be use to treat many psychological disorders. To conclude, the reason why Plato views art as something not particularly useful is because he had a different definition of art, he views art as only something on paper, while art can be in many different forms.

My first visit to High Museum of Art

So I finally went to the High Museum of art today, and to be honest I really wasn't expecting anything out of it since I am not artistic at all. But surprisingly, I actually find many of the art objects in there fairly interesting. Especially the painting above, The Maximum Speed of Raphael’s Madonna. At first when I look at it, I thought it was just a bunch of spheres arranged in a rectangle, but as I look closely at it I begin to see eyes, lips and an image of a face begin to emerge from the chaotic arrangements of spheres. At that point I was already standing in front of this painting for about 4 minutes, and I think that's the most time I have ever spent on a piece of art work. The more time I spend on this painting the more I discover. I notice that at the bottom of the face, there are a series of crosses, lines and mini spheres, and I realized that it was a necklace. Even though I don't really understand the actual meaning of this painting, the creativity of this painting definitely impressed me. In fact this painting might have opened my mind to the world of art, and so maybe next time when I look at a piece of art, I will actually analyze it and not fall asleep.

What is art?

To me, art can be made out of anything by anyone in anywhere at anytime. Art is difficult to define as anything can be a work of art as long as it is something that is created out of your mind. Different people have different opinions on artwork and therefore many different types of artworks have been created. To a museum curator in France, the Mona Lisa could be the best piece of art ever made, while to a father in a middle class family, a family portrait drew by his 8 year old son could be the best piece of art ever made. Everyone has their own unique taste of art and therefore anyone can be an artist because there will always be someone who will appreciate and admire your work.