Visiting Scholar - Fereshtei Toosi

Fereshtei Toosi is an artist who creates projects that often involve the whole community, and are all about participation. For example, one was about food culture. It involved gardening tutorials, helping with disabilities, and designing various projects for school. This project took place in a mainly African-American neighborhood, and she wanted to encourage people to connect with their heritage through food. Out of this came the book Garlic and Greens, which includes various recipes and oral histories.
I thought it was interesting how so many of her projects and work relates to food and how people connect to it.

Clare Finin & Michael Ho - Current Research in Graduate School

Clare Finin - MFA Candidate in Metals

There is a lot of emphasis put on the studio side of things in an MFA program.
Life in the MFA program has a lot of responsibilities and can be very stressful and busy. There are meetings, homework, teaching, emailing, etc. She doesn't have time to hang out with her friends or have time for leisure. However, this is her passion and she wants to be doing this.
Clare likes to research the relationship between objects and emotions from the past. When we hold a certain item, we are able to once again feel old emotions. This helps shift the object's meaning to something much more personal.
Clare loves to research, critique, create, and read. All of these things help her think of new ideas and push herself further in her work.

Michael Ho - MA Candidate in Art Education

He began to be passionate about art in his later years of high school. He got a scholarship to a summer art school, and after that he knew he wanted to pursue art. After going to community college and not doing so well, he decided to get a Bachelors of Fine Arts in painting in Houston.
Michael began teaching elementary art and he became interested in education. As an educator, he learned more about himself as an artist.
However, Michael wanted to learn more and so he decided to go to graduate school. He wanted to be able to be an artist, a teacher, and a researcher. He needed to credentials in order to move up in the art world and have more opportunities.
Michael does what is known as art-based research. He became interested in why people needed to call themselves an artist/teacher/researcher - was it necessary?
If he was doing what everyone else was doing, why did he not feel like he was accomplishing all of this?
His research dealt with identity and so he used psychology to help him understand it better. For example, he referred to Erickson who discusses different ages and the related psychosocial crisis.
Still, he wondered why people needed to be hung up on the word "artist". He decided it was more important to have actions than to become obsessed with whether or not he was an actual artist.
"We should be concerned with the action rather than the title."

Visiting Scholar - Jason Long

Jason Long spoke about architecture and the various buildings he had helped with designing.
First was the 11 Street Bridge Park. This combined art with functionality in many ways. It's interesting because it's an elevated park, which was a first for Washington DC. It kind of reminds me of the High Line in New York City.
Another building was the Lucas Cultural Art Museum. It was designed to almost "float" so that it wouldn't block the view of the lake.
All of the buildings that Long spoke of seemed to take the environment around them into account, so that the building and the land had a nice flow. I liked that, because I feel as though that is an important aspect to architecture that a lot of people don't normally think about.

Kiki Smith in "Printmaking"

Kiki Smith is a printmaker. In this video, she is working on a print for a friend who is also an artist. She says that drawing/printing hair is much funner to do, but that working on skin is very difficult. Making the prints is a very long process, because each time she will go back and change a tiny thing. Between the first and last print, there is a large transformation.
I like how she refers to printmaking as a mystery, because you never quite know how they will turn out.

Emmy Lingscheit - Printmaking

The imagery in a print isn't a reproduction of another work, it's a work of art itself.
Matrix : a positive that makes the impression on the paper out of ink
Printmaking has been around a long time, and keeps evolving over time. It's played a large role as a technology in recording history.
Printmakers made first-person accounts of what they were studying. Before photography, this helped people all over see things they otherwise wouldn't have.
Printmaking creates a sort of community, because there are many steps and skills necessary to the process. It's important you have others to help you and work with.
We use things that have been made by the process of printmaking everyday, such as money.
There are many different kinds of printmaking such as:
-woodcut
-lithography
-screenprint
-letterpress

Andy Warhol used printmaking in many of his works, and used it as a symbol of mass-production in society.

JR "My wish: Use art to turn the world inside out"

Could art change the world?
JR is a street artist from France. His friend called him and said he should try to "change the world, not save it", and that got him thinking.
He spent his teenage years doing art in the streets as a way to leave his mark. Then he got a camera, and started to use his prints as a sort of graffiti.
Riots began to break out in Paris, and he decided to try and use his photography/graffiti as a way to change. When the government began to show and appreciate his work, he realized "the power of paper and glue".

Jennifer O'Connor - Art Education

Jennifer O'Connor worked at a non-profit community arts center in the southwest side of Chicago.
It was located in a working class neighborhood with a diverse population. The classes included visual art, dance, music, and theater. They put on plays, musicals, and films, and held auctions and local charity events.
Jennifer was interested in having classes that were based on genuine art education. They were designed by teaching artists and used quality materials. The arts center began to expand, and served more than 15,000 students annually.
The gallery at the arts center contained works by local artists, contemporary artists, outsider artists, and even student artists. There were many student exhibits with art from area schools.
The job helped Jennifer meet many different artists and have new experiences.
Some of the best parts of working at a non-profit community arts center were creating classes, working and meeting with artists, and working with parents and students in the community.
However, some of the lows of the job were finances, working with schools who didn't want programming, and working in an environment where visual art was not valued.
Non-profit work has many challenges. There is always a need for new ideas and new people, and it can be difficult and draining. However, it is very rewarding and an amazing experience.

Mark Bradford in "Paradox"

The video for Mark Bradford wouldn't load, so I looked him up on PBS instead.
He creates amazing collages that resemble maps. He also does video, which creates an interesting combination. He draws inspiration from downtown LA and from important historical moments and issues such as the Civil Rights Movement. His work is colorful and complex, and I find it to be very cool.

Chris Kienke - Painting

He started with showing us the Mona Lisa 

He talked about how people always want to see it in person, even if it was an underwhelming experience 

People have always been drawn to painting

Paintings have been used over time to tell stories

People couldn't read, but they did understand the paintings

When photography came around, it allowed painters to do things other than realistic portraits

However, photo-realism is still used

-Vija Celmins

-Chuck Close

-Robert Longo 

Some artists work from a photograph, but make more abstract images

-Zhang Xiaogang

Using the photo as inspiration, but not being a slave to the photo

Abstraction has always been used in planning a painting, but having the end product be abstract is a more new idea

-Ian Davenport

Pours different coloured paints down in lines until they pool at the bottom

There are many different and unique approaches to painting 

People still look at real paintings, because they are tangible objects in time and space. You can see the texture of the paint and you experience something that screens cannot replicate.

El Anatsui in "Change"

I personally love El Anatsui's work. He uses found objects, like bottle caps, and turns them into beautiful and fluid art. For him, the process is always changing. There are no specific instructions for how each piece should be displayed, and so it changes every time. I love how almost liquid-like his pieces are. They are meaningful and yet stunning.
We learned about El Anatsui in African Art History as well, so it was interesting to see this video on him.

Crafts (Ceramics & Metals) - Billy Thide

Metal & Jewelry
There are many ways to create jewelry:
-beading
-sewing
-setting
-using enamel
-casting
By majoring in Metal & Jewelry design, there are many professions you can take such as:
-professor of art
-fashion and accessory designer
-craft artist
-jewelry designer

Art Fair
Art fairs are places for artists to sell their work to the public
Sales can be good or bad, and it often depends on how well you can work with people

Ceramics
We watched a video on different ceramic artists
They each had different styles and techniques in creating their work
It seems like ceramics takes a lot of patience, skill, and creativity

Sally Mann in "Place"

Sally Mann is a photographer who likes to do both studio and outdoor, using both as appropriate backdrops for her photos. In this video, she is working on a series she calls dog bone photographs. She had a lot of dog bones, and so she decided to just try out taking photos of them. Once she took her first photo, she realized she liked the way it looked and started to do more. Sally Man is very into just photographing whatever is around her at the time, and that's what makes her so unique.

Kendall McCaugherty - Photography

-Kendall Mccaugherty was a photography major at the University of Illinois
-She now works as a photographer's assistant at Hedrick Blessing Photographers, which is an architectural photography firm in Chicago
-A lot of us won't be able to travel to see and experience buildings firsthand, and that's why photography and film are so important to architecture
-Hedrick Blessing was one of the first to do architectural photography
-The business started during the Great Depression, but was able to survive because of its popular photos of the Chicago World's Fair
-The photos focus on the importance of the relationship between light and dark
-People are used in many of the photos, because buildings were made for human interaction
-They use the figures to mimic the shapes in the buildings

Where would architecture be without photography? How would you experience other parts of the world?

Ann Hamilton in "Spirituality"

-Ann Hamilton is an artist who focuses on the process of making
-She does many types of art, including sculpture, film, and working with textile and cloth
-She loves how you can come up with an idea and then create it and bring it to life
-"Ghost...a Border Act" is an installation that uses many various materials, including furniture, lights, and sound
-She uses many unconventional materials such as giant bubbles in her art

Stephen Cartwright - Sculpture

Figure

-Sculpture used to mark something significant such as an important date or religious figure 

-As time went on, sculpture became more intimate and personal

-The outside world begins to influence the art, and it starts to take on different styles

-In the 70s, Eleanor Antin brought a new meaning to "carving sculptures" by taking photos of herself losing weight over a period of time

-Mark Quinn made a frozen sculpture of his face from his own blood

Space

"Sculpture is what you bump into while looking at paintings."

-Space gives objects presence in the 3-dimensional word

-Makes the piece interactive with the viewer

-Changing people's experience of the world

Geometry

-Using shapes and minimalism

-Janine Antoni wanted to get away from minimalism, and used a block of chocolate which she chewed into shape (exploring body images and women)

-Carl Andre made floor pieces for people to walk on, because this is unusual for a museum

Everyday objects

-Why do we ignore them in everyday art, but suddenly pay attention to them in the art world?

-We shift the context of objects

-Duchamp's "Fountain" which was a urinal

"There's an intimacy and a repulsion that you can create with sculpture, that you maybe can't do with illustration."

Stefan Sagmeister: Happiness by design

-Stegan Sagmeister is a well-known graphic designer of posters and album covers
-He talked about breath-taking moments of happiness in his life
-He made a list of all these moments, and over half of them he was able to relate to design
-He went to an exhibit and decided that it was only a "visualization of happiness"
-Happiness is no longer taken seriously
-He showed various art that made him happy : comical subway art, a room with an open ceiling so you can focus on the sky, and an artist who leaves empty speech bubbles on posters in New York
-Stegan wanted to focus more on what made him happy in his work
-He makes lists to help him figure things out in his life
-Uses these lists in his design

Rachele Riley - Graphic Design

Rachele Riley is a designer and artist who uses many mediums including print, drawing, and video

You see graphic design everywhere, everyday
Signs, magazines, books, logos

When you're a graphic designer, you decide what you love, and create a niche around that
You have to be able to project ideas in recognizable ways
Expression using symbols & colours
Graphic design isn't neutral - it uses opinions

"You're making art with someone in mind, but you are someone."

Graphic design creates community and is relatable
Design is a noun and a verb
Collecting and generating data are both parts of being a graphic designer

Ai Weiwei in "Change"

-Ai Weiwei was a human rights activist
-He was arrested in China because of this
-He uses his artwork to evoke political and personal statements
-In photography, it's important to build a relationship with your subject
-As an artist, there are many different ways to approach your art
-Ai Weiwei used many unconventional materials in his artwork

Ben Grosser - New Media

"New media has yet to become old."

New media includes:

-video 

-code

-web

-hardware

-interaction

-storytelling

-performance

Being a new media major involves learning to understand and shape new technological forms.

You must be inventive and full of new ideas. 

"Technology can control what you do.. and where you do it and how you do it."

New media can be used to question and communicate concepts and subjects. 

adapt 

manipulate

analyze

understand

Dr. Deana McDonagh - Industrial Design

Dr. McDonagh is an industrial designer who realized there was a need for women in the field.

She uses Kickstarter to help get backing for new inventions and products:

Snooz

-white noise machine

-helps to make sleep easier

-not digital, uses a real fan

Industrial design is related to graphic design, but it also requires the knowledge of engineering, psychology, etc.

It works to help make normally complicated things easily understandable and empathetic with the public.

-graphics & 3-D models

-understand your market, and why your product is better than others out there

-think about user needs

-emotions + economics

"technology itself isn't selling - it's the narrative"

Chicago Trip

Last Friday, we all took a trip to Chicago and were able to visit the Art Institute as well as Expo Chicago. Here are some of the pieces and exhibits I found most interesting.

Art Institute of Chicago

 Cow's Skull with Calico Roses

I immediately liked this piece becauseof how minimalistic it is. I love the different tones of white, and the contrast of the black in the background. I've also always been fascinated with bones and I 

love the mix of the skull with the flowers. It shows both death and life at the same time. 

Pair of Headdresses

I was interested in this artwork because of the African Art History class I'm taking. 

It was really cool to finally be able to see some of the art in person. 

I was amazed by all the detail in this piece. It's made 

of a combination of materials: wood, metal, and brass tacks.

These would have been worn during

performances for agricultural heritage. The different

animals shown in the headdresses symbolize various

things, and it's easy to see the thought behind these

pieces.

Ohhh...Alright...

I've always loved Roy Lichtenstein's work, and this was no exception. I love 

the graphic-like quality. The colours work together and make the piece pop. 

I like the use of lettering, because I feel like that's something most artwork

doesn't have. It makes it unique and you can always tell it was done by

Lichtenstein. 

Arrival of the Normandy Train

Sorry for the bad photo quality of this one! 

This caught my eye because of the combination of colours. I also

really liked the brushwork, and how soft the whole thing is. Impressionism

has always been a favourite of mine. Something about this artwork

is so calming.

An Elegant Woman at the Elysee Montmartre

The colours in this one are amazing. I loved how bold it was.

Everything about it is so rich, and really takes you back in time.

You can almost imagine knowing the woman in the painting.

The Girl by the Window

This one is just beautiful. I love the colours and the brushwork and everything

about it. It reminds me of my childhood and late nights dreaming. 

There is so much emotion behind this piece of art. It's so easy to imagine

yourself being this girl and looking down at the city from behind

hiding curtains.

Expo Chicago

Crown Point Press / San Francisco

My friends and I loved the bright colours in this exhibit. Everything was pretty

geometric, which was cool as well. I liked how everything was simple but bold. 

It was a really cool combination of artwork.

Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi, GalerieMicheline Szwajcer / Berlin Brussels

This exhibit stood out from the rest. It was a little odd, but in an intriguing way. 

The whole room was filled with different figures made from various materials.

It was almost eerie, and that's probably why my friends and I were drawn to it.

Hostler Burrows / New York

This collection of artwork was very abstract. I loved all the different shapes and

mediums used. The colour combinations were all very cool as well. I especially

liked the metal piece. It seemed to be almost organic, even thought it was made from

a more hard material.

Kristin Romberg - Art History

Professor Romberg specializes in contemporary and modern art and has been teaching art history for 3 years at the University of Illinois.

In art history, you can bring all different kinds of disciplines together in order to examine objects and works of art. You can use knowledge from literature, science, linguistics, etc. to connect your observations to the meanings behind art. 

Research is a large part of being an art historian. Professor Romberg spent time at the The Getty Center in Los Angeles studying and doing research for this reason. It contains a museum with high quality works of art, but that is only 1/3 of what goes on at the center. There are also two separate institutes, the conservation institute and the research institute. 

During this time the research revolved around object, value, and canon.

canon - general law or principle that is used to judge something

The presentation of art can help put it into context, so that you can experience it in a more understandable way. Different types of art can also be judged in various ways. If the piece is able to tell a story, we find it more relatable and open to discussion. These stories can help to explain the way the artist viewed the world. Art history works towards crafting a narrative for the art. 

"Never have human beings in any other system felt closer to a common death, and thus never have they seen that on their work depends not only well being for all, but also for each" - Malevich, 1921

What art can we identify with, and what makes the art most effective? 

Introduction

On the first day of class, we were introduced to the various faculty of FAA.
They each gave their insight into how we could make our time at the University of Illinois most successful. Most hit on points about making friends and exploring campus. College is a time to get out there and discover new things. UIUC has many resources for art students, and it's important to take advantage of what you can!

Shock of the New - Episode 4

-This episode focused on architecture

-Chicago was home to most of American Modernism

-Because of the fire in Chicago, architects were able to basically start over

-Architects became obsessed with a utopian-like style

-Mondrian used grids and crosses to create his signature style

-His studio is a significant symbol of American Modernism

-The Modern movement may be over, but the buildings from it still remain
-Utopia cannot be obtained in cities because they are simply too complicated for that

Shock of the New Episode 1

 -This episode focused on how technology impacted art
-The Eiffel tower was shocking and new because the view from it was something many people had never seen before
-Picasso and Brach were both parts of the Modernist movement of art
-Collage linked cubism to the modern world (Picasso and Brach used newspapers, war packets, and other various things to create their art)
-Gris was a large part of the Cubism movement