We are as likely to communicate using easily interpretable pictures as we are text. Portable handheld devices enable us to tell others via social media what we are doing and thinking. Approximately 15,000 years ago, we also communicated in pictures—but with no written language.
Part 1: “I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way—things I had no words for.” —Georgia O’Keeffe (1887–1986) What do you think the artist means when she writes that using elements of art enabled her “to say things she had no words for”? Write your interpretation of the ideas she is expressing. Part 2: Art is more than just objects and images. It is a visual story of a people and their culture. It reveals their feelings, views, and beliefs. In a sense, art history mirrors the history of the world. It is a window on the past and the many cultures that enrich our lives. The artworks produced many thousands of years ago tell us a great deal about the earliest cultures and civilizations of our world. These ancient people left no written records. What we know of them has been learned from the objects and the art that they left behind. Choose one picture from the link here on the Khan Academy's Brief History of Western Culture or an image search for prehistoric art. Describe your choice. What does this artwork tell us about the people and culture in which it was made? Part 3: "We are immersed in our own time and it can be difficult to see the world around us objectively. One of the modern definitions of an artist, in fact, is someone who is particularly insightful about their own cultural moment. Thanks to global capitalism, social media and the internet, we are more interconnected and interdependent than at any other time in history. Some see this as a utopian moment. With internet access, we can all contribute to and benefit from what is being called the Information Revolution. For others, the prevalence of technology in our lives threatens our individuality and privacy, and reduces us to a data point that can be monetized by corporations like Facebook, Google, and Apple. One thing is certain, throughout the time periods sketched above, art has meant different things, and it is likely to be differently defined in the future. The history of humanity is recorded in our visual culture. Like the fate of previous civilizations, time will eventually destroy much of the visual culture that we are familiar with today. Future art historians will seek to reconstruct the world we now live in, to better understand the nuanced meanings that are so familiar to us. Perhaps someday an art historian will puzzle over an internet meme, a Torqued Ellipse by Richard Serra, or school-yard graffiti." --Essay by Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker How do you imagine future peoples interpreting our cultural moment in 1,000 years? What will they say about our "Information Revolution"? What records of ours might remain? Part 4: The Google Arts & Culture Project is an online platform through which the public can access high-resolution images of artworks housed in the initiative's partner museums. Choose one search term to plug in, and then describe several of the types of art that come up. What did you learn about how this category? What does the artwork say about humanity from this piece of our global art history record? E.C. Check out the TED Talk here and explain what this cultural Big Bang Looks like. What are the capabilities of Google Arts & Culture? How do they display this visually for the audience? Share your most insightful thoughts in 7-10+ sentence summary.
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What are the greatest human motivators? Many seek power, fame, or wealth, happiness and purpose. We desire greatness, to create a legacy, to be remembered, to change the world, to make our mark. Since the first lines of human expression were recorded on caves in paint thousands of years ago, mankind has desired to tell his story for the next generation, and we have done that in a powerful, lasting way, through drawing and painting...and more.
In the World War era, many philosophers were overwhelmed with the meaninglessness of life: so many lives lost, the restless chaos, the struggle, the anxiety of existence. From that existential void, the bold, heroic artist stepped forward to make his mark. He says, "I am here. I exist." His expression is a loaded gesture: painting becomes the ritual act for transforming consciousness. Art is now ideas. Who needs a painting that looks like a photograph? Painting can change the world! The gesture is a process, the artwork is a process, more than a product. The German Gestault theory transcends in the modern word, saying "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts." The painting means so much more than lines and shapes. The process of painting is a discovery. Jackson Pollock said, "I am nature." His brush is fluid like the ebb and tide forces of nature, a raw, spontaneous gesture. "The painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through." "Painting is self-discovery. Every good artist paints what he is." The expressionist uses distortions to express the emotion and energy of the inner world. There are no accidents. Enter the energy field of the void and make your mark! Pollock was an action painter, a dancer, painting in the air over the floor, listing to jazz, becoming the processes. His multi-million-dollar signature drip paintings caught the moment, and his new use of line moves us through his fluid, meditative world where there are no accidents. You can learn more about Pollock's revolutionary abstract expressionism and watch how he painted here. Pollock said, "When I say artist I mean the man who is building things, creating molding the earth, whether it be the plains of the west, or the iron ore of Penn. It's all a big game of construction, some with a brush, some with a shovel, some choose a pen." Some people are artists, and some themselves, are art. 1) How can the artist's purpose and process of art be more important than the artwork itself? What does making art mean to you? 2) What are the greatest stories told by art? Which pieces have created the most lasting human legacy? Which ones cut to the heart of who we are? Which ones will we look at 1,000 years from now? 3) How does art create meaning and purpose for the artist and the viewer? How can art change the world? 4) If you were to create an artwork that would leave a lasting legacy for future generations, what would you want it to express? How are the processes of your life, the creative things that you make and build, a form of art? 5) Some of my favorite philosophies about art come from modern artists like Pollock. Share a favorite quote from an artist that shares your philosophy about art, and explain why it resonates with you. Please share a 7-10+ sentence answer. |
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