Final Test Question1

It's interesting to look at this images which it seems like were largely an exercise and to consider them from the lens of different views.  I keep finding myself fascinated by the different things that we view as correct.  How can we all think so differently about things and what is real and true?  If we consider the perspective of a modernist they would view these images for their aesthetic and formal value only.  They would think about the image in itself and not consider the context in which it was made, they would think about color theory as far as how the colors work together (their interactions based on the different backgrounds), how the forms fit, and whether or not the image stands on its own.  They would consider abstraction for what it is and look at the images for their medium.  A postmodernist would consider these images in context of how they were created.  They might consider the implications of black and white and might even consider the modernist attitudes that we took in creating the images and what kind of context that brings.  They would not consider color theory in a modernist sort of way, assess the colors and their relationship with each other, but they would consider them in a postmodern way.  Think about the implications of skin color, of black and of white, of one skin tone in relation to the background on which it is set.  The context provided and even the collection of images would make them think of color theory in a much more cultural and political kind of way.  They would consider how colors have been viewed, how we thought of them when they made them and what they mean in the context of today.

I would ask my students these questions:

Does art have to have meaning?

Are you a modernist or a postmodernist?

How are you a modernist and how are you a postmodernist?

Dan Barney

Dan Barney talked to us about speculative realism and Object Orientology.  A lot of what I learned is that artists consider and learn from all things.  There aren't certain outcomes that are inherent with different objects, we could do macaroni art that's classic and lame or we could do macaroni art that is awesome.  We should always ask ourselves what an object can teach us.  We should help our students to question things too.  We also looked at an Art 21 video from Vancouver that I really enjoyed.  I liked that the artist began making things because he couldn't help it, they were a part of who he was because of who he was and the culture he was raised in as well as the culture that he wasn't raised in.  Even though the art that he made had a great deal of weight and content behind it, it was interesting to me that he wasn't afraid to depart from that and maybe just make sculptures out of shoes, that didn't relate to his original idea.

Then we went to see Rebecca Campbell's exhibit in the MOA.  It was interesting for me to approach it again with a new crowd because I work in the MOA.  I've approached it by myself.  I've been trained on it.  I've read descriptions of it a thousand times and given tours of it.  I've talked about it with random patrons or with my coworkers.  It was interesting to discuss it with people that maybe come from a similar artistic standpoint as me and to consider it.  It's interesting how I feel pressure to conform to other people's opinions no matter who it is I'm talking to.  A lot of times I feel a pressure to think similarly to them as if there is a right way to think in order to gain acceptance or to just be right.

Jethro

Jethro's presentation was awesome.  I never cease to be amazed by what High School Students can do when they are put in the right environment.  Jethro talked a lot about his portable gallery, he also showed us some of his current work and honestly a lot of it made me feel like... I want to be more of an artist than I am now before I teach.  I've been feeling really nervous that I won't be able to help my students be artists because I don't know if I know how to be one.  We talk a lot in classes like Curriculum about setting up an environment, creating a formula instead of a recipe.  I love thinking about these things and I'm passionate about education, and about art.  But I just don't know HOW to create the right environment.  I loved hearing Jethro talk about all of the things that he's doing.  I loved seeing the work that he's creating right now, and how he helps his students help with it sometimes.  I loved hearing about the ownership that people are taking of their own work.  Making a show.  Advertising it.  Setting it up and making arrangements for that on their own.  His students really take ownership of their work and I think that is so amazing!  I just sometimes feel intimidated because I see what I want to be able to do, but I don't know how to do that on my own.

War

http://www.art21.org/videos/episode-protest

Nancy Spero -7:50-9:30
An-My Le - 14:02-16:10
Alfredo Jaar - 29:18

How do these three artists compare?  What is their main objective?  How do they accomplish it?  Should we comment about things like war that are so complex?  Why even add our voices?  What's the point?

How do we respond to the world as artists?  Do we have to know what we're talking about before we can talk about it?

I was considering how I could respond to questions like this about a topic like war, and really all I could think of was the very few and far removed experiences I have had regarding war.  The first time I felt like I could understand a little bit of what war might do to affect me personally - here in America, far away from the wars that have been going on - was when my after only a short time dating my fiance told me that he had thought about going into the military.  It was a weird new kind of reality to me.  I had never ever considered that that would be something that would happen to me.  It's interesting to see how my perspective has changed as I have come to hear and see some of the effects that war had on one family.  My response is unlike any of the three pieces above.  It was more of a personal reflection.  This is a picture of my fiance when his dad was deployed for over a year.  It represents my own coming to grips with the idea of war and sacrifice.

Cornell West, Bell Hooks, and Michel Foucault

What are they saying?  This blog post needs more time.  But here are some things that they are saying.

“Never forget that justice is what love looks like in public.” 
― Cornel West

“My aim is not to provide excuses for black behavior or to absolve blacks of personal responsibility. But when the new black conservatives accent black behavior and responsibility in such a way that the cultural realities of black people are ignored, they are playing a deceptive and dangerous intellectual game with the lives and fortunes of disadvantaged people. We indeed must criticize and condemn immoral acts of black people, but we must do so cognizant of the circumstances into which people are born and under which they live. By overlooking these circumstances, the new black conservatives fall into the trap of blaming black poor people for their predicament. It is imperative to steer a course between the Scylla of environmental determinism and the Charybdis of a blaming-the-victims perspective.” 
― Cornel West, Race Matters

“As all advocates of feminist politics know most people do not understand sexism or if they do they think it is not a problem. Masses of people think that feminism is always and only about women seeking to be equal to men. And a huge majority of these folks think feminism is anti-male. Their misunderstanding of feminist politics reflects the reality that most folks learn about feminism from patriarchal mass media.” 
― bell hooks

“Visionary feminism is a wise and loving politics. It is rooted in the love of male and female being, refusing to privilege one over the other. The soul of feminist politics is the commitment to ending patriarchal domination of women and men, girls and boys. Love cannot exist in any relationship that is based on domination and coercion. Males cannot love themselves in patriarchal culture if their very self-definition relies on submission to patriarchal rules. When men embrace feminist thinking and practice, which emphasizes the value of mutual growth and self-actualization in all relationships, their emotional well-being will be enhanced. A genuine feminist politics always brings us from bondage to freedom, from lovelessness to loving.” 
― bell hooks

“Justice must always question itself, just as society can exist only by means of the work it does on itself and on its institutions.” 
― Michel Foucault