ARTS 105
ART APPRECIATION
Professor Erin Kendrick
erkendrick@cougars.ccis.edu
904.504.8199
Minute Paper – Is this Art?
Cai Guo Qiang, Footprints of History, 2008
What is Art Appreciation?
“Appreciating Art is never just a question of
accepting visual stimuli, but also involves
intelligently contemplating why and how
works of art come to be made and have
meaning. By helping you understanding the
artist’s creative process, we hope to engage
your own critical ability, the process by
which you create your own ideas, as well”
– Page 3
Julie Burstein: 4 Lessons in Creativity
http://on.ted.com/j085y
4 Lessons in Creativity
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Embrace EXPERIENCE
Embrace CHALLENGES
Embrace LIMITATIONS
Embrace LOSS
The Creative Process
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQIj7E6CR8&list=PLwLQhM7PdqJ1JSu5YZlH55xBhZ72fMxZ&feature=share
• https://artsy.net/artwork/cai-guo-qiangdesire-for-zero-gravity
The Creative Process
source - http://sites.moca.org/thecurve/2012/03/09/chaos-gravity-and-fire/
Roles of an Artist
1. They help us see the world in new an
innovative ways.
Yayoi Kusama
“You Who Are Getting Obliterated in the Dancing Swarm of Fireflies”
Fireflies on the Water (2002)
Roles of an Artist
2. They create
a visual
record of
time and
place.
Andy Warhol, Birmingham Race Riot, 1964
Lucille Clerc, French Cartoonist, 2015
Roles of an Artist
3. They make
functional
objects more
pleasurable
by imbuing
them with
beauty and
meaning.
Kane Kwei, Chicken Coffin, 1987
Gee's Bend Quilters Lucy Marie Mingo, Nancy Pettway,
and Arlonzia Pettway
Roles of an Artist
The Ghent Altarpiece: God Almighty
(detail) 1426 - 1427
4. Artists give form to the immaterial – hidden or
universal truths, spiritual forms, and/or personal
feelings.
Screen Shot from “Black Jesus” episode of
Good Times, 1974 (Ernie Barnes)
PROMETHEUS HAS LANDED
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoQ
gcz8LtB0
There are no “lines” in space
“God does not build in straight lines”
-Charlie Holloway
Developing Visual Literacy
From the text…
“…one of the primary purposes of any art
appreciation text is to provide you with a
descriptive vocabulary, a set of terms, phrases,
concepts and approaches that will allow you to
think critically about visual images”
Visual Literacy – the ability to recognize why you
like a work of art and how it communicates to
you.
Active Seeing – the process by which we look more
closely at the visual world.
Rene Magritte, The Treachery of Images (This is not a pipe), 1929
Subject Matter vs. Content
• Subject Matter – What the image or object
literally represents
• Content – What the artwork means
Vocabulary
• Representational Art –
portrays natural objects
in recognizable form
When the representation is so realistic it
appears to be a photograph is said to be
photorealistic.
When the representation is realistic (and
or recognizable) but is presented from a
subjective/personal point of view it is
defined as naturalism.
Leonardo Da Vinci, Mona Lisa
The more a representation resembles
what the eye sees, the more it is said to
be an example of realism.
Abstract Art–
rendering an
object in a
manner that is
recognizable
although not
completely
representational
Pablo Picasso, Weeping Woman, 1937
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
• Non-Representational (Non-Objective) Art
-when a work does not refer to the natural or
objective world at all (generally consists of line,
shape, and color)
Wasilly Kandinsky, “ Yellow, Red, Blue” 1925
Subject Matter vs. Content
• Form – the overall structure of an artwork. It
includes aspects such as its materials, size/scale,
and the organization of its parts into a
composition.
• Iconography – a system of images whose
meaning is understood by a certain cultural
group
• The images used in iconography represent
concepts or beliefs beyond literal subject matter
• We often refer to the visual images as symbols
• Symbols – images that represent something
more than their literal meaning
Ghada Amer, “Snow White Without the Dwarves”, 2008”
Acrylic, embroidery and gel medium on canvas 50 x 60 inches
Seeing the Value in Art
• How does the public tend to receive innovative art?
With reservation because it usually has little context by
which to understand and appreciate it. It is difficult to
value that which is not understood
• What is the purpose of the Arts in Public Places
Program?
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) created
this program to require 1% of the cost of new public
buildings be dedicated to art for their public spaces
• What constitures the activist direction in public art?
Because public artwork directly impacts our daily lives
many artists use the public context for activist goals,
addressing social & political issues.
Angela Strassheim: Untitled (Janine Eight Months Pregnant), 2013. 50 x 60 inches.
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Charles the First, 1982,
Acrylic and Oil Stick on Canvas (3 panels)
http://closerlook.pearsoncm
g.com/view.php?type=close
rlook&id=642#
Seeing the Value in Art
• Marina Abramović - performance artist
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKw
7LuEqUVs
• Then this happened…
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMG
2oNqBy-Y&feature=kp