Explorations in Art

 This week I will be looking at fiber art. Fiber art is defined as  art made from fibers such as fabric or yarn. It generally prioritizes aesthetic value over utility. One. Fiber artist is Nancy Young who lives in Maine. She originally got into braiding because it was a cost effective form of art through which she could also decorate her home. Now she inspires and teaches other people to braid. These are two of Young's pieces. The first one is her first rug, and the second one is one she made many years later. In the first rug, there are lines of mostly solid color, while the second rug has more complicated color and shape patterns. Both rugs are made so that when you look at them from further away the blending makes it harder to see what colors are present, and how many in each band. The shapes of the second rug are also more complicated. In the first rug, each of the bands are made in an oval, while in the second rug, the center is circular, while moving ...

Following the Great Migration and the Harlem Renaissance, there was a prominence of black artists and art in the US. This led to art discussing racism and the trauma experienced by black people over the previous centuries.  One of these artists was Aaron Douglas who painted Judgement Day in 1939. In this painting the archangel Gabriel summons the living and the dead to judgement. In this painting, Douglas exaggerates stereotypically black facial features in the angel. This creates a narrative where that opposes the white christian view and is very powerful. This painting is the final in a series by Douglas to accompany   God’s Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse  by James Weldon Johnson. This painting also accompanied sermons by radical black religious figures. In this painting you can see the influence of surrealism. Surrealism is about portraying art in a dreamlike fashion. In this painting the abstract nature combined with the overly exaggerated geometric elem...

   The two impressionist works I am looking at for this entry are  Child’s Bath , 1893(1st), by  Mary Cassatt, and  The Artist's Garden at Giverny , 1900(2nd) by Claude Monet . As is indicative of impressionist work, Cassatt seems to capture a moment in time; the mother washing her baby's feet in the bath. In Monet's work you can see the wide brush strokes and blending of colors, which create looser more blurry images and fusions of color.  Cassatt uses changes in color to create depth. In the painting, the lip of the bowl seems to protrude towards us, and you can see the mother's front knee dip into the other knee. Additionally the brush strokes are small in order to clearly distinguish objects and give them detail. Cassatt also used color to create light in several areas in the room.  I prefer Monet's style. The wide brushstrokes blurs the picture. The paint that Monet used, provides texture. The use of color allows for shadows creating the impressio...

 Annibale Carracci painted Christ Appearing to Saint Peter on the Appian Way in 1601-2. This directly coincided with the timing of the Counter- Reformation and the Council of Trent, so these events likely influenced Carracci's religious fervor in this piece.  In this painting the resurrected Jesus is walking back to Rome carrying a cross to be re-crucified and runs into Peter who has just escaped jail in Rome. The scars from the previous crucifixion are visible on Jesus and his red mantle (symbolizing his humanity and the blood he has shed) accompanies his crown of thorns. Peter is depicted in his usual blue and yellow robes and distinguished by the keys he carries (see previous post).  Carracci is an early baroque artist, and many of the characteristics of his work come from Renaissance era themes. For example many of his works feature rich blended colors and symmetry (for example in my Renaissance post the work is very symmetrical). The main feature of this piece that c...

  For this post I will be discussing  Delivery of the Keys  by Pietro Perugino, a Renaissance painter.   In Delivery of the Keys Jesus is depicted gifting the keys to Heaven to Saint Peter, the first pope of the Catholic Church. The painting was commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV to decorate the Sistine Chapel in Rome, where is still stands today.    In this painting a linear perspective is used in order to create depth. The buildings being further behind the people, fading into the hills, with the focus, Jesus and Peter, in the front. You can also see how the artist used bright colors to contrast the people in their bright robes from the more drab colors in the background. This is also a very balanced painting with evident symmetry between the people and the buildings. This painting relates to the reinvention of Rome by the Catholic Church because, it was the money from this reinvention that payed for the painting. With the reinvention...

This painting is called  The South Ledges, Appledore  it was made by Childe Hassam towards the end of WWI. In this painting a woman looks over the cliffs in Appledore, Maine, towards the ocean, soaking in the sunlight of Appledore's short summer. In this post I am going to examine Hassam's use of tone, color, and pattern (brush strokes). In this painting Hassam uses tone to create shadows which give the appearance of depth in the cliffs. As you look at the cliffs you may notice how there are small spots that are lighter or darker than other sections. These slightly darker spots create the illusion of shadow on the rocks. This is representative of how the sun would cast its light differently on rocks that were at different depths. You may also notice the many colors present in the water. The combination of these blues, purples, greens and white add movement to the water. For example, the white shows the crests of waves, which is why it is more prevalent towards the shore. The p...

 Hi everyone, my name is Jennifer. I am a fourth year student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. My major is ocean science and I have a minor in Spanish. Currently I work in a genetics lab on campus. My research uses eDNA (environmentalDNA) from water samples to compare species composition from different sites within Kachemak Bay in Homer, AK. I grew up in Anchorage and I enjoy hiking, camping, and water sports.  This is a painting that I enjoy. As someone who essentially plans to work with water for a living, I will admit that I find it to be particularly pretty. I like to watch how the rocks in a river create eddies, and how water pools over the rocks. I enjoy watching water flow through a river the way some people like to watch fires. I find it hypnotizing and relaxing. I think this painting does a good job in showing the feel of water as it moves. I wouldn't necessarily say that art plays a very big role in my life. Activities like pottery and painting have never been ...