https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/timeline3/latest/embed/index.html?source=1uavD1qBsh7qkJ1KGKkuCSe4QJjTgcQY9-1z8AC5pgz8&font=Roboto-Megrim&lang=en&timenav_position=top&initial_zoom=2&height=650
0 Comments
Due to the poor weather and road conditions, Aneesa and I were not able to do any further research at the library today. However, I began writing out everything that will be going into our timeline.
Each event on the timeline will have a blurb about the time period, the art era, the artist, and their art piece. Here is an example of one of the blurbs I wrote out about Kehinde Wiley's Officer of the Hussars: "Kehinde Wiley is known for his work depicting African Americans in a different light than the one they have typically been depicted in in Western Art History. Many of his art pieces are naturalistic and often include dramatic floral or abstract backdrops. His art piece, Officer of the Hussars from 2007, is a reproduction of Theodore Gericault’s Officer of the Hussars, but instead features a black man wearing jeans, a white t-shirt, and boots. While Wiley’s painting differs from that of Gericault, it actually parallels the same idea of strength and confidence but in a more contemporary fashion." A similar format is used for all of the different artists and artwork I am including in the timeline. Writing out these blurbs was how I spent the majority of my snow day, and while tedious, it really made me feel as though I was rounding off the independent study really well and finally putting everything I've learned together. Today Aneesa and I spent the day at the library (which was nice after spending the last week at museums) designing our intensive fair presentation and getting started. Our goal for today was to both have a final outline of what we intend on presenting, as well as starting our interactive timeline that we want to present. We decided that there are two major aspects to our intensive fair presentation. First, we want to create an interactive timeline using the software "Knight Lab." In this timeline, we would like to include a cumulative overview of the history of the social issues we focused on. This would include artists, artwork we saw and appreciated at the museums we visited, and a general history of what occurred and when. In addition to this timeline we want to create a poster board to teach the audience about reading visual language in art work. We will include both artwork from the museums we visited, as well as some of our own art that we are working on today that relate to our social issues. We created an outline of our timeline; I am attaching a photo below. We decided to separate the timeline based on eras, and we chose 6 main eras to focus on: Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque/Rococo, Romanticism/Realism, Modern, and Contemporary. All of the art pieces and artists that I am featuring in the timeline are written in red. Tomorrow we are spending the day putting together our timeline. Our intensive fair presentation is finally coming together, and we are really excited to present on Friday!
Today we attended the last museum we'd be visiting this intensive! It was the Toledo Museum of Art, and while we were already familiar with the artwork there, looking at it through a different lens really changed our perspective there. The first thing I did upon arriving at the museum was find the Wendy Red Star art pieces that I had researched last week. I found them and honestly was sort of in awe at how pretty they were. These photographs by Red Star are a series titled "Four Seasons." In these photographs, Red Star inserts herself surrounded by one-dimensional plastic and cardboard cutouts of animals and flora and fauna. By doing so, Red Star is able to comment to America's tendency to make up one-dimensional stereotypes and narratives about Native American culture. Red Star, a Native American woman, is able to use her art work to depict Native Americans in a way that is different than what is seen in American films, literature, and culture in general. According to the museum, "Four Seasons poses important questions about the complexity underlying Native American identities and who owns representation," which greatly relates to what I am trying to convey about depictions of colored people in this independent study.
Today I was able to look at an art piece that directly relates to my theme of the depiction of colored people in art, and Red Star was able to show how she believes Native Americans are depicted in America, which is an entirely different perspective than what I have typically been exploring. Today we were finally visiting the Detroit Institute of Arts! We didn't know this before, but we quickly discovered that DIA is one of the largest and most significant museums in the United States. As a result, we were very excited to dig into our themes (and slightly overwhelmed!). At this museum, I was able to dig into not only the portrayal of colored people by white people, but I was also able to see how colored people depict themselves in art, so I am going to focus on that during this blog. One of the first art pieces that I saw at the museum was a painting of Cleopatra. However, the Egyptian ruler was unrecognizable, as she had been whitewashed, leaving her with pale skin and features that did not match those of an Egyptian woman. While this may not see like a major detail, it is actually a key point that points to how colored people were depicted. Cleopatra, a colored woman, being turned white to suit the standards of artists and the public at the time, shows the lack of power given to people of color. Whitewashing is a fairly common occurrence in art, and continues to happen to day in the film industry, when white actors take up the roles of non-white characters. The next art piece is an extremely modern and recent painting by Kehinde Wiley, an African American man, of a black man on a horse, depicting him with strength and power. All of Wiley's work depicts people of color greatly, and sheds a light on their true selves, unlike many other art pieces that we often seen in art history. So, I wanted to just put this piece in here, as I thought it was beautiful and spoke to the depictions of African Americans by African American artists. The last art piece I am going to touch on is a portrait of David Shoppenagons, a Native American chief, from 1910. In the portrait (painted by American Eanger Irving Couse), Chief Shoppenagons decided to wear traditional clothing that connected him and identified him with his ancestors. This depiction by a white man is a major part of looking into the depictions of Native Americans, as, unlike many other art pieces, Couse depicts this Native American man as standing tall, looking off into the distance, and standing alone, showing the endurance and continued strength of Native Americans. There are still many, many art works that I want to share at the Intensive Fair that really stood out to me. However, throughout these blogs, I have been able to pick out major themes from the museum, and pick out examples from the art pieces we have seen to support those themes, allowing me to lay out all of my ideas. Today has been my favorite day of our independent study so far, as I have been able to really dig deep into my theme, surrounded by exhibitions that solely pertained to what I was researching. Tomorrow, we are going to the Toledo Museum, which should also be productive and worthwhile. Today we finally got to visit our first museum: the University of Michigan Museum of Art! Our goals were pretty simple: to take a look at some of the work in person that we have been researching and find ways to connect them back to our major themes. Upon arrival at the museum, we were kind of overwhelmed at all of the exhibitions. However, because of my research from yesterday, I was able to navigate the museum and pick out the exhibits I needed to visit first. I want to put all of the different art pieces into this blog, but this blog would end up being way too long, so here are two of the highlights of the day that focused on Native American art: This piece of art was created by Charles Ferdinand Wimar in the United States from 1828-1862 and is titled "The Attack on an Emigrant Train," and is a painting of American pioneers being "attacked by a group of Native Americans armed with tomahawks and bows and arrows." At the time that this painting was created (which is depicted by the painting), European Americans believed that they had the right to North American land and felt that Native Americans were an obstruction "in the path of American progress." Thus, while the painting depicts Native Americans attacking American pioneers (which is a greatly negative depiction), it is truly the American pioneers who have been taking over the land and homes of the Native Americans. This painting was done by Benjamin West in the United States from 1738-1820 and is titled "The Death of General Wolfe." This painting, while not as focused on Native Americans as the last piece, does still feature a Native American who plays a key role in the art piece. The piece clearly shows the death of Major-General James Wolfe, but it is not an accurate depiction of whom and what was actually occurring at the time of his death. West decides to include others who were not present at his death as to "suggest the ethnic and geographical breadth of the new British empire." In other words, West decides to include the Native American as to show the key role that Native Americans now play in the British empire, which is a bit more positive depiction than was that in the last painting (at first glance).
Tomorrow we finally get to visit the University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA), and I can't wait to finally see some of the art pieces I've been looking into in person. My goals for today were to plan out the exhibits and artwork that I wanted to visit tomorrow when we get to UMMA. That way, when we actually get there, we won't waste anytime lost and confused, and we can begin digging deeper into our social issues as soon as we get there. After some thorough digging through the UMMA website, we found the UMMA archives, which were categorized by topics. I went under the "Ethnicity and Race" topic, as it relates directly to what I'm exploring and they organized everything for us, from "African American Woman Artists" to "Indigenous North American Arts" to "Race, Gender, Class, and American Identity" (All of which are perfect for my topic!!). Here is an example of the "Race, Gender, Class, and American Identity" Topic on the website, just to give an idea of the types of art we will be looking at tomorrow: One exhibit that stood out to me is titled "Representations of Native Americans and Native American Sites," which ties to my last blog, where I focused on Native American art at the Toledo Museum of Art. Here is one example below, by Edward S. Curtis, that was taken in 1910-11, that I feel very much captures the different representations that I'm trying to convey with this independent study: I feel that Native American art and Native American representations are often overlooked by the general public. However, I feel that with the long and complex history of the Native Americans, it is important for us to look into their art, so we can gain a greater insight into their experiences being displaced, killed, and tortured over the years.
I look forward to our visit, and my experiences today have prepared me and narrowed my focus on what I will be looking for at the museum tomorrow! Our goals for today were to plan out and schedule the next two weeks. We both had a Mock Trial meeting, so we needed to be on campus to get everything figured out for our competition next week. So, we spent the remainder of the day scheduling art classes and planning the days that we would be at each museum.
Our preliminary schedule for next week is as follows: Monday: All of the museums are closed on Monday, so we will be either meeting with Bob Schira, doing more research at the library, or staying on campus. Tuesday: University of Michigan Museum of Art Wednesday: Detroit Institute of Arts Thursday: Toledo Museum of Art Friday: Aneesa and I will be off campus on Friday at a Mock Trial competition. This schedule is very subject to change, as we will have a lot going on with both completing research and attending the museums. We hope to attend all three museums next week, but we may need to push one of them into the next week, depending on how the week actually unfolds. We also spent some time scheduling classes for the week of January 21st. Everything will be closed on January 21st in observance of Martin Luther King Day, so we will likely have that day off. Below is our intended plan of events for the rest of that week: Monday: OFF Tuesday: Paul Brand Acrylic, Oil, Pastel or Drawing instruction, Toledo Artists Club (2PM-4PM) Wednesday: Class at Bob Schira's For the Love of Art Thursday: Thursday Morning Painters, Toledo Artists Club (9AM-12PM) Friday: Meeting with Bob Schira at 10:30 AM After spending the day planning out our next two weeks, we can have a bit more narrow focus when we are finishing up our research. We are also more organized now, so we can have the most successful two weeks as possible and make the most of the rest of the time we have of this independent study, which has been enlightening thus far. |
Details
AuthorSusu Alkhalili ArchivesCategories |