Module #4: Value Scale and Color Wheel

1. I felt the making of both the value scale and the color wheel were fairly straight forward exercises to accomplish.  I found it to be an interesting assignment to do.

2. I enjoyed doing the value scale the most because I found it interesting on how much of the charcoal was needed for the squares.

3. The most interesting discovery to me when doing these activities was the mixing of the color's.  Knowing and figuring out how much of each color to use was somewhat challenging, but very interesting.

4. The videos were very helpful to me mostly when looking at the primary colors.  Learning that some of the colors that I thought to be primary colors, but were actually not was the most interesting part in my opinion.

Project #1: Elements and Principles Slideshow

This project helped me to learn a lot about art in terms of its elements and principles.  By thinking about these elements and principles while doing the project it made things more interesting and enjoyable.  I have never been a super artistic person, but by viewing the photo's from the lens of the different elements and principles I see art in a totally different light.  It made me see art on a totally different level and it was one that I enjoyed.

http://s1339.photobucket.com/user/youngy1340/library/Art%20Project%201

Module 3

1.   Color has many effects on emotions as the shade of the colors can give off different types of emotions.  The color evokes feeling and emotions.  For examples colors that are bright and colorful usually depict the emotion of joy, happiness, and positive.  While to most people dark shades give off an emotion of fear, gloomy, sadness.Although this is the the perspective of most some people see shades in different ways.  I especially liked when they were talking about Rothko's painting that was meant for the 4 seasons restaurant but did not make it.  It didn't make it because of the use of color as it made patrons feel entrapped

2.   The theoretical aspect of color that most intrigues me is association with emotion.  For example red has always been a color that I have been most intrigued with and it stems from my longtime passion for the Detroit Red Wing hockey team.  It is this very question that has made me realize that its probably the color that has helped spill over into other sports teams, as I am also a passionate fan of the San Francisco 49ers, as well as the Calgary Stampeders who are also associated with the color red.  This very question has made me realize that association with the color is a big part of my life and passions.

3.  Vincent Van Gogh's impact full painting made the biggest impact on me with regards to color and its effect on emotions.  His self acclaimed worst painting was his depiction of a dismal cafe where man could commit crimes. I found this to have a great impact on me because he purposely painted an ugly painting just to get his feelings about the cafe on canvas.

4.  In the feelings video the biggest impact made on me in regards to color and its effect on emotion was the idea of perspective.  I find perspective to be interesting because it deals with so many different viewpoints that contrast so much between people

Module 2

1.       The first video that I watched and analyzed was "Aesthetics: Philosophy of the Arts." I learned that ideas are beyond the senses and that they can only be processed through reason. I thought this was very interesting because it shows how our brains work towards ideas and how there needs to be reason for what we are doing or coming up with.  I also learned that in the time of the middle ages there was no aesthetics present and that the thought or idea of beauty was overtaken by a dedication to god.  I found this to be very interesting because it shows how things were back in the middle ages. People were dedicated to God because it gave them purpose, but did not have the view or idea to see other things as beautiful.
         When watching and analyzing I picked up on many different things associated mostly with the science behind art.  The part that I found most interesting is that art is a constant revolution.  There is a renewal in art, but there is no real progress that takes place.  I find this interesting because it almost anything we do in life, almost everything is geared towards progress, but with art there is no real progress that has taken place.
          Another interesting fact that I learned when examining this video was when the narrator asked the question why do some works of art have such a powerful affect on the mind?  I felt like this was an intriguing question because its one that I have asked myself and wondered about in the past.  He analyzes a "Goddess Parvati" who is supposed to be the epitome of human femininity, grace, dignity, and everything that makes a women beautiful.  The western art historians examined it and said the waist was too big, the hips are too big, and that it didn't look like a real women.  He mentions that they missed the whole point of the sculpture and that is that art isn't made to create a realistic picture.  It is used to deliberately exaggerate in order to create pleasing affects to the human brain.  I liked this a lot because I find it to be very true as we see this in our everyday lives.  When looking at forms of visual art we always see things exaggerated, but that ends up pleasing our brain, which in turn makes us like that form of art. 
          When analyzing the CNN  article I learned about the different ways that our brains are wired.  Like when we look at a painting or drawing our minds immediately know if there's familiar aspects of life associated with it.  Things like people, animals, places, food, etc.  I find this very cool because it shows how powerful our brains really are, how quickly we can interpret and determine these things.

2.     Plato's theory on Aesthetics which took place in the Ancient Philosophy Era to me is the most important to me because he was such a great story teller, and because he thought of arts as a powerful shapes of character which I definitely agree with because art has purpose and meaning behind it and because of that I believe it can severely help to shape ones character. 

3.    When watching the video and analyzing both Changeux and Ramachandran's presentations I would definitely say that I enjoyed Ramachandran more than Changeux.  Changeux seemed to be a little more analytical or scientific as opposed to Ramachandran who seemed to use more emotion and passion in his presentation.  When I think of art I think of passion and emotion more than science and analytics.  To me art should be about passion, emotion, and creativity and I believe that Ramachandran instills these qualities much more than Changeux.

4.    The videos and articles relate to the the readings from the textbook in many different ways.  The readings in the textbook do a great job in telling us the different types of styles and variations there are in forms of art.  It introduces and explains the different types of themes associated with art.  The videos and articles help to back up these different concepts that we see in the textbook.  By giving us specific examples and information of these concepts it helps to better understand the different concepts within the textbook.

5.   The articles and videos helped to give me more insight into art.  I found them very interesting and useful when looking at art.  It presents a great perspective on how we see art and the different ways we can perceive it.  With this knowledge it gives me a great understanding of the different ways people look at art, but how one person can see one thing while another perceives it in a totally different way.  By having the this new knowledge of art I believe I'll have a better understanding and be able to look at art in a new and more in depth perspective.