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Embracing a Wider Framework for Art Production

I have spent a lot of time on The Art Assignment this semester, for my art education course. I based one of my Unit Lesson Plans off of this video, Imaginary Friend. I chose to continue with this assignment because I truly believe that art teachers should do the work that they are also expecting their students to do. At the end of the video, the artist JooYoung Choi, provides three ways to create your new imaginary friend. I chose to take two of my favorite animals, the sloth and the platypus, and create my new creature. Meet Norbert, the Slothapus.

Choi also talks about how she has made many of her puppets and characters based on feelings that she and others were experiencing. For example, Bernadette was created to eat up feelings of despair and loneliness. I really like that idea of creating a character out of emotions, especially emotions that we don’t know what to do with. In my lesson plan, I had my students do this to some extent. Because I will be an art teacher, I figured I should do the same thing that I am asking my students to do. I created Norbert to be a comforting presence. During this time of isolation and frustration, and not being able to even touch people, Norbert is here to bring comfort and joy, and encourage that inner child to resurface to help you find things to do (not on a screen) during this time where people are feeling incredibly bored and closed off from the world.

Why a sloth and a platypus? I liked sloths before they were “the animal to like,” and over the years I have received sloth stuff from friends and family. When I was younger, I always loved the platypus. They were just so weird, and seemed like something made out of spare parts. While I was creating Norbert, I kept asking myself, why these two animals? Why was I so drawn to them. I think because both these animals are such anomalies. Neither quite fit into any category: is the sloth a monkey or a lemur or a bear? is the platypus a duck or a mammal? You just don’t really know as a kid. I like that you cannot put either animal into a box, they are unique and weird, and only unique and weird people can truly appreciate them. 

Norbert is created out of old pillow cases, polyester cluster fiber fill, and buttons for eyes. He is incredibly soft and huggable. This was my first time sewing a creature, so he is a little lopsided and frayed, which makes him all the more endearing to me. 

#theartassignment imaginaryfriend #4dart covidsucks findingthejoy

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Postmodern Definition

Post-modern art is about ideas. Modern art was about creating art that people simply enjoyed because they saw it, knew what it was, and could move on to the next thing. Post-modern art creates a relationship from the artists to the artwork, and from the artwork to the viewer. While modern art was about the relationship between the artwork and the viewer. Postmodern art breaks down barriers and makes the artist more aware of their relationship with what they are physically making, and the ideas behind it, rather than just making art to please the crowd.

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Recontextualizing

Betye Saar- Aunt Jemima

Confronting the Gaze

Kiki smith, Lilith. 1994. Bronze with glass eyes.

Facing the Abject

Kiki smith, train. 1993. Wax and glass beads.

Constructing Identities

Frida Kahlo. The Two Fridas.

Using Narratives

Kara Walker, Gone: An Historical Romance of a Civil War as It Occurred b’tween the Dusky Thighs of One Young Negress and Her Heart . 1994. Paper.

Creating Metaphors

Ai Weiwei, remembering. 2009. Backpacks.

Irony, parody, and dissonance

Ai Weiwei Colored Vases. 2006. Ancient Chinese vases, paint.

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Escaping the confines of museums

Dale Chihuly. Bellagio Ceiling. Blown Glass. 2001

Collapsing Boundaries Between "High" and "Low"

Richard Hamilton. “Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing?”. 1956. Collage

Rejecting Originality

Awol Erizku. Girl with a Bamboo Earring, 2009

Jouissance

Jiajing Yang: Infinite immersive space.

Working Collaboratively

Marina Abramovic and Ulay. AAA-AAA (1978)

Appropriating

Luhring Augustine. Van Gogh/Blue, 2016

Simulating

One and Three Chairs. Joseph Kosuth. 1965.

Hybridizing

Charlotte Moorman. TV Cello. 1976.

Layering

Lauren Philips Anderson- O Superman

Mixing Codes and Mixing Media

Layering: Sandra Chevrier. The Cages. 2019. Mixed Media. 

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You really do have to watch all the way to the end. I found myself laughing every time I watched it.

I will often find myself doodling in class on grid paper. Doodling helps me relax, and will often help me in the divergent thinking process to get to what I need to do.  When in class it helps me focus on the lecture and think of ideas to contribute. I will also often find people watching me fill in every square on the grid paper, and be taken aback by the end result. I honestly think people just find it fascinating that I have the attention span and patience to fill in every square. In real time, it took be about 30 minutes to fill the whole paper.

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20 Verbs... it’s what you do!

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Exercise for The Artist is Present. 

Being quarantined in the 21st century means a lot of screen time, especially for teens and younger. I was getting tired of my nephews only playing video games and not knowing how to entertain themselves with out a screen. I decided to teach my nephews how to play card games. Since I’ve taught them speed and solitaire, they have less fights and when they are not allowed to play on the x box, they play card games. I wanted to film myself playing Solitaire and winning, but I played about 8 games, filmed them all, and lost every single one. I thought it was pretty funny, and decided to use what I had. Enjoy!

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Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present Response

To be completely honest I have always have an eb and flow relationship with performance art. Sometimes I understand it and find it interesting and insightful. Other times I find it to a way for someone to draw attention to themselves... but this can really be said about any time of art from.  With Marina’s work she intentionally draws attention to herself, while simultaneously making the audience aware of themselves with in the artwork. She is making the audience look at themselves and their own body, emotion, thoughts, feelings, and presence in the space. She is “directly and boldly challenging the audience.” This is what most artists, performance, sculptural, painting, drawing, want to make the audience think about, their own relation to the art work and to the artists. The shared experiences of the audience and the performer is what is at the heart of her work. 

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Project 2: Vanishing and Becoming

Psychedelic Gates

I wanted to create a video that seemed one thing and then became another. I found this video, originally set to calming music, designed to bring down anxiety and tension. As I watched the original, I realized it was hypnotizing and relaxing. I decided to change the sound to change the mood of the piece from calm and relaxing, to tension building, even anxiety producing. I sped up the video when the music hits its crescendo to create this tension between the viewer and the video. 

#4dart

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Module 2 Exercise: Ladies of Prey

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The Loop (Forever)

As I began this project, the word that suck out for me was “distribution.” As soon as something is posted on the internet (if it’s interesting or well made) it spreads like a virus. By “virus” I mean as in the common cold virus, not a computer virus, although they are similar. As things travel through the internet, they can get distorted, twisted, and misunderstood. They can often end up in places that the creator never intended or expected. When we are doing research, buying products, or creating, it is imperative that we have a healthy amount of criticism in what we are looking at. We have to carefully observe things, not take everything at face value, and protect ourselves.

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Exercise #1

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I like each of these because there is an element of humor to them. I think they are well made GIFs because they are continuous. there is no distinct beginning or end. A true loop. Some GIFs do need a beginning and end, especially if they have words, but I have always been drawn to GIFs that do not have a distinctive beginning/end point. 

GIF

I find it really interesting that people wanted GIFs to go away, and there was even a day set aside to rally people to get rid of all GIFs. Gifs were starting to come out when we were making really important and interesting strides in understanding what we could do with technology. For example, Toy Story came out when GIFs were really being hated on, and because of the great strides by companies like Pixar, we have made even more technological advances. I liked the Art Assignment video, because it combined fine art and digital art. I always find digital art intimidating, but I hadn’t realized I could combine them!

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Ai Wei Wei

Ai Wei Wei: Never Sorry

I have looked at several other activist artists, many I cannot call artists, because what they do is just a violation of the government/laws, and it is confined to themselves and what they are doing. Many times it is violent and masochistic, not artistic. But Ai Wei Wei uses his artistic vision, his stature, and the digital age to raise the voice of the people that the government is repressing. By making every act and art work public, he makes it activism, not just about him and his voice/opinions, but about his family, his people, his culture.