Assignment #4

Part 1: As I walked around the horseshoe, many different elements stood out to me as beautiful, but the one I chose to elaborate on was the columns outside of the old library on the horseshoe. These columns stood out to me because unlike most of the columns in the horseshoe, these are very plain. Many of the other columns I saw were very elaborate and decorated. Many of them were Corinthian columns. But, these are Doric columns and they are very large columns. They make the library look larger than it really is and it is a very neat part of the architecture of the building. 
Part 2: The film I chose go to see at the Nickelodeon was Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky. The movie began really well. There was a very unique and eye-catching beginning. The director, I believe, wanted to get the viewers very interested from the beginning. It was a hypnotizing formation of different colors and shapes all moving around, eventually panning into the beginning scene. The movie was about the famous composer Igor Stravinsky and the famous fashion designer Coco Chanel. Igor had a bad spell in his career and lost his reputation after a very controversial ballet. Trying to get his career back to it's original state, he runs into Coco Chanel, who loved Stravinsky's work. She offers to help him and allows him and his family to move into her house. He begins to write music and prepare for his next performance all the while falling in love with Coco Chanel. Stravinsky and Chanel have an affair while Stravinsky's family is staying in the same house. In the end, Stravinsky's family leaves Coco Chanel's house and Stravinsky stays there to finish his composing. He composes his ballet and everyone loves it. He and Coco both end up old and alone at the finish of the movie.
One form of filming technique that I noticed right away was the use of different camera angles. The camera angles made different parts of the film more interesting. The cameras showed different perspectives of the different characters in the movie. While showing the ballet, camera angles switched between the view of Stravinsky from the audience and then Stravinsky's view of the ballet. The director did a great job of using camera angles to make this film the best it could be.

Assignment #3

As I walked into the McMaster Art Gallery I noticed right away that this place was beautiful. All of the art that was there was amazing to admire. I noticed that the masterpieces were in different categories. When you first walk in, looking to the right, you see the art of shapes. Different shapes are drawn and painted in these works of art. As you continue around the gallery you see how the different themes of shapes, animals and nature, people, and movement are portrayed around the walls of the gallery. There are paintings and drawings of trees, women, and dancers as well. I really enjoyed looking at all the different works of art done by many different people.

Describe: The piece of art that I chose to elaborate on was You Know Me Better Than I Know Myself:Removed But Still There By Melissa Cooke. This was a masterpiece of powdered graphite on paper. It came from Koplin Del Rio Gallery, Los Angeles in 2009. I chose to elaborate on this artwork because the second I saw it, it stood out to me. It had a feel to it that none of the other artworks did. It was a very large piece of art and took up most of the wall space from top to bottom. The colors were simple nothing bright just black, white, and a bit of grey shadowing. This piece of art was a photo of a young woman's face. Her hair and makeup is done as if for a big show or a party of some sort. She looks as though she is getting ready to go somewhere important.

Analyze: Melissa Cooke uses lines to make this artwork seem more real to life. She uses lines in the body to give the woman figure and lines in her lips to give them life. The lines of her collarbone and shoulders makes the woman seem fragile which adds much meaning to the life of the artwork. Cooke uses shape to make the eyes of the woman pop. By making them so round and large they seem to draw the attention of the viewer. Space is another important element in this work of art. Melissa Cooke uses space to make the woman seem very large. There is not much space around her and she takes up majority of the space in the mural. Texture is displayed in this artwork in the woman's hair, face, and shoulders. The artist uses texture to make her seem much more realistic. The principal of design, balance, was used in this artwork because the woman was off centered in the piece of work. Many artists use this as a key element of their artwork. The emphasis that Cooke uses is to bring the attention to the woman's face and eyes in this artwork.

Interpret: When I first looked at this artwork, it caught my attention. The girl seems to be looking for something. My attention is brought straight to her eyes. I think that she is getting dressed to go somewhere important but somewhere she isn't sure she wants to be. I feel that the girl in the artwork may not like the person she is becoming or the person she may be forced to be. I think she may have gotten herself into a relationship she doesn't like and now she is somehow forced to live a life that is not hers.She looks for something better and longs for it. The part of the title, Removed But Still There, makes you believe that she doesn't have what she wants. She has been removed from the world that she desires but still longs to be there.

Evaluate: I think that this is a beautiful piece of art. The artist did a wonderful job using the powdered graphite to make this the masterpiece that it is. I like how every little detail was carefully displayed. I think that Melissa Cooke is a great artist and I think that her ability to use only powdered graphite to shade and outline this girl to be so detailed is amazing. This was a beautiful piece of artwork and I am glad that I chose to elaborate on it.

Assignment #2: Aesthetics

       In my opinion aesthetics is seeing things as beautiful. It is about studying everything that we see and describing it as beauty. The four domains of creativity are fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration.

These four domains all have different meanings and ideas. The domain fluency is having the ability to think of lots of different ideas. If you have fluency in a certain category, you are good at coming up with many different things or activities to do in that category. Flexibility is being able to move quickly from one idea to the next. In the classroom setting, a teacher must help children to become flexible because subjects taught change throughout each day. The third domain of creativity is originality. Originality is being about to be original and having an idea that is your own. In the real world, originality comes in handy. No one wants to be just like everyone else around them, they want to be original. The final domain of creativity is elaboration. Elaboration is being able to add ideas. Adding ideas to any group setting such as teaching, planning church events, or just working on a group project is vital to success.
       Practical Experience: Watching someone jump into the lake
       Aesthetic Experience: Sitting down into my chair as it surrounds me with comfort I look off to my left and see a large man running towards the lake I am admiring. As I watch the man run quickly, his feet beginning to leave the ground higher and higher with each step, the water looks calm below him. The gap between the water and the man begins to get smaller. Until the gap is gone and suddenly the man and water are one. As the man sinks further the water splashes higher until there is no difference between the man and the water. Soon the water calms and settles back down just as the man's head bursts out of the surface.