Art &Gender

When I first began this class, I wasn't sure how art and gender could be related. I didn't think that gender played any part in art because I only though about their being 2 kinds of gender in the world. I thought of art being something that anyone created that was produced from a feeling or inspirired by something. From the first day when I took the Gender Apititude test, that test alone changed my thought to gender. It opened my eyes to see that their are many types of gender. After learning that, I was more curious at how men and women interacted in artwork. I enjoyed reading the artciles to help further my learning on the subject. I remember reading about the "Dinner Table" by Chicago. I thought that was very interesting and really disgusting. It definately stnads clear in my mind. I saw many pictures of art from the articles as well, and seeing how men and women relate to eachother is very interesting. The week 4 articles about the 3 different couples that met through art and ended up beeing married. However, the men took advantage of the women's art because in that time period, women were not noticed as much for their pieces. Now, when I see art pieces, I think more about the smaller details and how each person who is pictured in the artwork is related to other and how they are interacting. My definition of art and gender has changed because when I see art, I don't walk away and ignore it. I enjoy sitting there and trying to figure out what is gonig on and what the artist is trying to say. That alone, is a huge change for me. I think that art and gender are related because your gender is the way you express yourself. you can be whatever you want, and chose to be what you feel you should be. Art is same way, you chose what you want to paint and what you want to express. They both are about being yourself and expressing to everyone who you are. Plus, gender is used in artwork when artists chose to draw men, women and all the other kinds of gender.
This class was very interesting and I know that I learned a lot. I am more open to art and more interested in it than I was 4 weeks ago.

Art Editor

I read the artcile about Bruce Wolmer passing away at 59. He was a big editor among the art magazines. He was a longtime editor and publisher of the Art&Auction magazine and an expert on dealing with the international art world. He passed aaway in New York City, and lived in Manhattan. He was born in Manahattan and attended the Wesleyan Univeristy, were he graduated and then continued on to do his graduate work at Johns Hopkins University. He was very popular in the art world and this loos is very painful to those who knew him. He seemed like a very accomplished man in the art world.

Little Miss San Fran

Gonig to the Crocker Art Museum was the coolest thing that I had done in a long time. I loved seeing all the various types of artwork and seeing so many different paintings. It's amazing how artists can creat anything from using any type of color and design. I walked around the various sections of the museum and my favorite out of all of them was the California Gallery, which was filled with artwork from artists that created paintings that were named or had a relation to California. My favorite piece out of the all of them was one called, Little Miss San Fran, by Charles Christian Nahl. It was a painting of a little girl that was sitting on a chair in a beautiful white dress. She was holding some grapes and wearing bracelets on each wrist and a necklace. The carpet that was below her was floral and she had the cutest rosiet cheecks. I tried to figure out what made the artists draw the little girl and why he named it little miss san fran. I understood the little miss part of the title, but nothing in the painting related to san francisco. The dress that she was wearing could signify that she was gonig to one day be a bride or that she was gonig to a christianing. Her facial expression was very determined and looked as if she could conquer anything though she was only about 2-3 years old. The colors that Nalh used to paint the piece were very vibrant and caught my eye right away. A lot of his pieces surround the room and were all noticeable. It was so much fun to return to this museum and I was suprised at how much I enjoyed being there. The time that I spent there was rather short, but it went by really fast and discussing art with my mom was something that I had never done before. I enjoyed talking about what I saw at pieces and to hear what she saw too, because she sometimes noticed something that I had missed. When I return back to U of O, I plan on gonig to the museum that is on campus to look at the art that is featured there and see how it compares to the museum here.

Disney

After looking through the NY articles in the art section, I saw two articles that caught my attention. After seeing them, one being about a popular movie coming out and the other being about a television show that is about to begin, I realized that most of the articles are about movies or television and rarely about pieces of artwork. In the first article I read, "In-Demand Surprise for Disney" it states how a cable company, Cablevision, let viewers or potential buyers access the new anticipated movie, High School Musical. Those who have been waiting patiently to see it on Friday August 17, they don't need to wait anymore, however, you need to subscribe to Cablevision first. I think that this is not fare and that Disney should do something because they can't show something before its allowed. It's like a bookstore giving out copies of the 7th Harry Potter book, when it isn't suppose to be realsed until July 21. Yes it would be nice to see the movie earlier than everyone else, but is that really fair.
The other article I read is about a television show that I am excited for, "Newport Beach" which is the show formerly known as Laugna Beach. I love seeing shows like this because it gives me stupid drama that is fun to laugh at and make fun of. Plus it gives me something to talk about with my friends. We sometimes all get together and watch as a group and then talk about it after. The show follows a group of kids through their school year and partially through their summer. I love it cause it gives viewers, mostly young girls from the age of 13 to about 22 the chance to see how other people act, though its scripted, and how people live their lives. Having the main girl, Chrissy, not able to do everything because her parents are so strct, shows me that my parents are not as bad as I thought. I'm excited for both, the movie and the show. It gives me my entertainment that I like to have every once in a while.

Child's Art

As I was working today, I walked by the children's day care where parents take their kids to be watched while they work out. On the wall was a ton of art that had done by kids that spent some time in the care. I saw so many different things that I wondered what the instructions were; was it to paint something specific? or paint whatever you wanted to? I saw so many different colors and different object, no recognizing anything in particular as to what the "theme" was, if there was one. After seeing this, I got to thinking about how we draw and express art as children, to when we are adults and expressing art. I know that when I was younger, any color could go anywhere and I would draw whatever I felt like, usually flowers or rainbows because they were the easiest. Many children draw stick figures as people because its the easiest way to draw someone, I was one of these kids, and to this day I still draw stick figures because I am not the best artist. However, some people grow up to draw really well. Some even go on to college for art and continue it as a career. I think that art is something that can start at such a young age, yet we only look at art that is drawn by professionals, who are usually over the age of 8, unless you look at your childs art work that they did. I didn't realize that over time, my drawings got better as well as many, many others do.

Art Exhibit

I just wanted to write about how I am excited to go visit the art exhibit in town! I know for the short paper we have to go visit and art exhibit and write about a painting that we can see in person. I took a field trip to the Crocker Art Museum, when I wa in elementary school. I remember gonig on the tour with the guide and seeing for many different are pieces, but being extremely board because I was around the age of 9 years old. However, I have not been back since, and I am actually really excited to go! I think I'm gonig to take my mom too. The museum is pretty popular, here in sacramento. I was just thinking today about how when I went to Europe a few years ago, we wold go to some museums and see different pieces, of coarse the famous Mona Lisa and Statue if David, but even though I was 16 years at the time, I was still pretty board. I think its because I knew the famous pieces and seeing them was cool, but to me it wasnt a big deal. But after taking this class, and another one, I really want to go back and see all the different pieces of art that I once didn't care for. I think I would be more interested, plus I have matured over the years. I'm wondering if when I return to the Museum in a few days, if I will recognize any pieces of artwork that I might have seen somewhere else in my life. !!! We will soon find out!

Friendships

As I was scrolling through the NY times art section of the online articles, I found one that made me really excited. One of my favorite shows to watch, The HIlls, is starting its 3rd season Mon, Aug. 13. There was an article about the season premiere for it, "It's Lauren vs. Heidi in battle of the of the Ex-BFFs." This season is gonig to be drama filled because Lauren and her best friend have a huge falling out because Heidi(her best friend) choses to live and be with her boyfriend instead of listening to Lauren abd being a friend. I passionately hate it when girls chose to stay with their boyfriends, when something happens and the friend tells them about it, yet nothing happens. Chosing your boyfriend over your friends is the worst because friends will ALWAYS be in your life and only wants what is best for you, and losing your friend for a guy who may not be in your life in a few weeks isnt worth it. I think its dis-respectful to your friend, especially if you have been friends with the person for many many years. It's not worth it. Heidi choses to live and continue dating her boyfriend who flirts and gets around town with other girls. She will eventually learn(i hope) that he is a sleezbag and not worth giving up her friendship with Lauren. Lauren has been honest to Heidi and supported her with everything, and Heidi pays her back with this. What a great friend! ha. I am really excited about this season of the Hills because I'm interested what happends between the 2 friends. Based on what MTV shows of Lauren on the show, I think she is a great friend to have and that you can always turn to her for support and she will be honest with you, which is what a friend should be like.

Real World

When I read week's 1 reading material, I was very surprised by what I learned. I read in Horowitz's article, that children are attracted to things they see and hear, whereas adults notice everything and look deeper into what is gonig on. I have noticed this in my everyday life when I'm working. I am surrounded by kids everyday at the pool, and notice how something catches there eye so fast, and how they move from one object tot he next, without even realizing what the first object can do. For example, they notice other kids when they arrive; toys that may have floated away, kickboards to play with and ect. As an adult, I notice things just as often as the kids do, but I stop to ask quetions about it, such as, Why is this happening? or What is it doing? or Why is this child attracted to that? Kids don't care for detaills unless the object isn't working to how they think it should. He mentions how "adults need to be more open-minded and willing to reflect on what we see" so we can learn from what we are experiencing and viewing. We need to pay more attention to what our kids notice, and ask ourselves whythe object attracted there attention. Since Horowitz claims that "what fascinatied us as children now seems naive and uninteresting". As being an adult, I am still drawn to the same objects as children are, but I am not fascinated by it, however, I don't find those objects uninteresting. Everything is intersting to me.

Performing

I just finished reading the article about Michael Buble, the new crooner singer that is becoming very popular through all generations. He gave a performance and was dressed very classy in a suit and tie, the article stated. It was summing up the songs that he sang, which ranged from the 30s to his newest material. Michael has shown that he can sing and keep an audience entertained by just getting personal, instead of dancing around like other artists. I wasnt a fan of Michael Buble's songs at first, but as I hear them more I begin noticing how they are catchy and very smooth. His voice is very soft and comforting, just like Harry Conick Jr, which the article compared the two. Overall, I would love to go see Michael Buble' in person, jsut to see him express his musical talent, that is art.

Expressing Art

While looking over what I needed to do for this assignment, I thought about the various places that I see art but don't think its art. I look at a specific website every sunday, called post secret. For those who don't know about it, every week a guy posts up post cards that people from all over the world send to him about a secret they have. People design a post card that fits to what they are expressing or trying to get out. Since its easier sometimes to draw to get out what your feeling instead of talking about it. I look at the post cards and think how creative people are. They come up with ideas that relate to clearly to their secret, yet I would have never would haev come up with the idea.