Validictory Final

For my project, I originally wanted to do a portrait based project focusing on friends. This is show in the first picture. I was planing on posing them together in different ways and sticking to more traditional portraits. Trying to pose my two friends ended up being extremely difficult. They would not listen to what I was saying and wouldn't do what I asked. I didn't have another project idea that I wanted to do so I knew I needed to find a way to make this work. I decided that instead of traditional I would show their unique friendship. Most of these pictures were taken while they were just doing random things. I then decided in order to show that it was about friendship I would add quotes to each picture. I think that the quotes help show the meaning behind the photo and showcase their friendship. I really enjoyed this project. The three of us have been friends since middle school and we are practically apart of each others families. I feel like this showed our bond and how we interact. We do crazy stupid things together and this is friendship I'll always have even after high school. I got to use my best friends and they got to see kind of what I enjoy doing. I learned a lot from this project. Most of all, people are difficult. Also that sometimes you have a plan and it just doesn't work out how you intended and you just have to adapt and go along with it. Overall I really like how the project turned out.

Valedictory Progress Check

I used some time to look up some examples of friends photography of google and on Pinterest. It gave me a few ideas as to what I wanted to photograph and some different poses I could use.  

I took some pictures towards my final project. I used my best friends and I tried to show how close they are and some interesting and adventurous things they do.

I decided that in addition to my pictures showing friendship that I might try to put quotes about friendship. I feel like this could add to the meaning and explanation about the photos. 

Overall i picked to do a portrait based project showing friends because I am really close to my best friends and I'm always with them. I also really enjoy working with people and I like portraits. In my project i originally was planning to do serious project. After trying to shot the first time it was hard to control and pose my friends. They were kind of in their old world. Thats when i decided that I was going to try to show more of their unique friendship and let them be a little crazy and odd. So far I like how my photos turned out and I'm planning to take more in the next week.

Double Exposure Final

The first two pictures show her confidence which you see on the outside. The other pictures represent how she enjoys the outdoors and really enjoys nature. She rather spend time outside being adventurous than lazy inside.  

These show the outside being kinda quiet. The outer pictures represent how I really like the city and i like to be in a big area. Small things aren't for me. I used a scene on New York for the first one. I used different pictures on Pittsburg for the second because I absolutely love the city. My family is from there and i love to be in the city. 

I really liked this kind of project. I like to work with layer masks and use different overlays. I enjoyed making some really interesting and unique pieces. 

Rene Magritte and Surrealism Reading

1.     What is surrealism?
creative potential of the unconscious mind, one way is juxtaposition of images.
2.     What motif did Magritte use in many of his works? Why was this significant?
The man wearing the bowler hat; Magritte had another job were he dressed as a business man as well as many others around him which inspired him

3.     In his work Golconda, why is it important that Magritte varied the image of the man in the bowler hat?  How does it add depth to the work?
It showed he could paint in a realistic style and it makes people look more closely. He made the people in the back smaller and the people in the front larger to show that some are closer. 

4.     Why did surreal artists choose to create strange worlds with their art?
wanted to bring their dreams to the real world

5.     Explain how the techniques of juxtaposition, altered scale, and language help Magritte explore Surrealism.  Juxtaposition compares two or more things which shows the realism between them. Altered scale makes people think about it and some artist like to make things the correct size and some like to make them bigger or smaller.

6.     What would be a few reasons why Magritte would cover the faces of his subjects?
his mother drowned and when they pulled her out her face was covered

7.     Why did Magritte strive for realism & precision in his paintings?
he believed it allows viewers to focus on the subject of a work instead of the techniques used to paint

8.     Google more of Magritte’s work and include 2 images that interest you.

o   Explain the technique(s) used to enhance the work

o   Hint – review the words in bold from the reading
In both pieces he uses the motif of the hat. Some might say its a self portrait of himself. These pieces show that he keeps his work consistent. He uses different scales. The man is in the background and the object is in the foreground.   

Outward vs Inward

Outward Me

On the outside I try to dress somewhat nice, not dressy but not lazy. I can sometimes be loud, but other times I'm really quiet. I'm pretty quiet until I get to know someone. I come off really serious. I'm a very honest person. I am not very athletic and I'm bad at a lot of sports. I am very indecisive.


Inward Me

On the inside I love to have fun and do crazy things with my friends. I am pretty close to my family, which is important to me. I am really thoughtful and I sometimes care too much. I'm the person all my friends come to for advice or when they need someone to listen. I like to help people. Every week I volunteer in a nursery where I watch infants birth to 18 months old. I think I'm sort of smart, but it doesn't always come off like that. I'm a very creative person. I can come up with solutions when there is a problem. I am very indecisive inside and out.

Posing Examples:

Photographs the Represent Hidden you

Shooting assignment- Double exposure

Examples from Artists

Exquisite Corpse

This picture was made by having 4 people draw separate parts of a body without seeing what the previous people drew. By doing this we all created a unique and creative part of a body. It relates to surrealism because it releases the creativity in the unconscious mind. Each person drew something completely different. Everyone was creative in how and what they drew. I think this was a good intro to surrealism because we all experienced a different creative image.

Dada Final

I really liked making these abstract pictures. It was a little weird at first but once I started I just wanted to try a bunch of different things. I'm really happy with how they turned out. They aren't plain like most commercial pieces. They are interesting and unique to the artist. 

This project ties in with dada because its abstract and random. I didn't think about what i was going to do. I just did it. They are very different pieces of artwork that some people might find weird, which is what many people had thought about dada. Overall I liked the project and I'm really proud of how they turned out. 

Dada Studio Experimentation

Questions about Art

1.     What is a work of art?  Describe qualities found in artworks.
A work of art is something that is visually pleasing that someone has made. 

2.     What should an artwork provide to both the maker and the viewer?
Artwork should provide something interesting and capturing to the viewer. Art should be fun and enjoyable to the artist and let them express themselves.

3.     Why do people make art?
People make art to share their thoughts, and feeling with others. Also it is a way for someone to express themselves in a different and unique way.

4.     Where does one encounter art?
One encounters art almost everywhere everyday. Art is all around us. 

5.     What is the role of the artist?
The role of the artist is to create the art that others view. 

MoMa & Dada

World War I and Dada
What is Dada and why did it come into existence?
Dada is an untraditional style of art that pushed the boundaries that were previously established. It came into existence during the first world war. 

Marcel Duchamp and the Readymade

·      Discuss Duchamp’s notion of “Readymades”.  What are they?
He believed that common, manufactured goods are art. This challenged the thought that art had to be beautiful made by a skilled person.

How do they change your expectations about what art can be?
This changes expectations of what art is because you can look at anything and say that is art. You can look at anything and say someone took time to make this and this classifies as art. 

Chance Creations: Collage, Photomontage, and Assemblage

·      Dada artists turned to non-art making strategies…

o   What did they embrace?
Artists embraced and critiqued modernity. They started making collage, photomontage, and assemblage.
Why did they take this approach?

They took references from newspapers, film, and advertisements that defined everyday life. It was a form of protest and critiquing the increasingly mechanized, violent world in which they lived. 

Artist Collaboration

·      What is the value of art made by Dadaists?
Dadaists believed that the value of art lay not in the work produced, but in the act of making and collaborating with others to create new visions of the world.

Word Play

·      How and why did Dada artists work with words?
These experiments were meant to expose the relationship between words and their meanings.