Blog Entry #4

Art 21: Place
1) Do we define a place or does a place define us?
I think it works both ways. We can define a place by physical means (for example: Graffiti), or we can define a place by emotion (for example: A star runner that wins the 100 meter dash in the Olympics at wherever will be associated to that place forever). A place defines us by its influence to us. If you go to Cedar Point and love the rides, then you could become more of a risk-taker than someone who didn't go or went and didn't like the rides.
2) How is each of the featured artists influenced by particular places? How is this influence reflected in the artist's work?
Sally Mann loves nature and being able to "run wild." Her work shows this because she tends to photograph outdoors (like with her children) and crazy, ambiguous objects. Margaret and Barry are both influenced by the city. Margaret by signs and objects most people look past and Barry by graffiti around the area. Their work is influenced because they use those things in their artwork or to compare their artwork to. Richard Serra is influenced by large spaces and creates his sculptures to fill those larger places. Pepon Orosio is influenced by his home life and other people around them and tries to recreate those in his pieces.
3) How has the program altered your notion of how art expresses place?
I didn't realize before I saw the program how much inpact a place can have on an individual person, and after looking back, I realize there are quite a few places that seem to have molded who I am in some way.
4) Which artist do you feel most connected to and why?
I felt most connected to Sally Mann because she likes to make odd things the object of her art. She likes to leave her art ambiguous as do I.
5) Compare the media used by each artist and discuss how it affects the scale, composition, and accessibility of his or her work.
Richard Serra's media is large scale sculptures of metal. He makes the object really large which makes this a little less accessable compared to clay you would just throw on the wheel to create the same object of smaller scale. He then has to figure out how to fit these large pieces in rooms.
6) When you were young, was there a place that interested you? A place that scared you? List five places from your childhood. Use on word to describe each of them.
My bedroom- Bright
School- Fun
Sea World- Exciting
The Park- Friends
Hospital- Scary
7) Pick one of those places. Try and remember it as well as you can. Answer these questions about it... What objects occupy that place? What are the textures and sizes of those objects? What was the lighting like? Was it a dark dreary place? Or a bright happy one?
The Park---There's lots of nature and people. Tree leaves and bark, grass, the field, gravel, sand on the baseballs fields, sticks. Most are small in size. It was usually bright and happy.

Art 21: Stories
1) What are the important stories that are told in our society today-- in books, movies, picture, music, the news, or by friends and family? Consider- if you could personally guarentee a single story to be passed down to future generations--what would that story be, what form would it take and why?
Important stories told in our society are that of grand narratives. The kind that teach us moral lessons. We see these even when we're really young with movies like Cinderella and Snow White. It I was to pass down a story, I would want it to be word of mouth because that was always the best way to hear stories, I thought, when I was younger. I would want the story to be interesting and be one that people would think about in their daily lives.

2) Why are some stories told, as opposed to others? Why do some stories continue to be told over time while others are lost?
Stories are told based on how interesting they are and whether we can learn something from them. I think the stories that are kept around are the ones that reflect our society's moral beliefs.

3) How do the artists featured in stories use journals or sketchbooks in their artistic processes? Is a journal or sketchbook a work of art? Why or why not?
They use journals and sketchbooks to create and modify their ideas. This helps them to make the art more perfected in a way. I think a journal or sketchbook is not a work of art, rather of collection of works of art...kind of like an encyclopedia holds many different articles.

4) Each artist in this hour describes an event or element in his or her childhood that resonates in current work. Do you remember a time when you were 5, 10, 15 years younger? Please record, in a present-tense voice, the experiences that were important at that time. How did you spend your days? What did you dream about? What emotions did you feel? Write a self-description in your childhood voice, followed by a second description of yourself at that age from the point of view you have now.
Yeah, that's right, go Mario! Do do do do ...What? Ok mom, be right there. I always hate family meetings. We really don't discuss anything important. We just stare at each other. But maybe my mom and dad got that dog that me and Nate wanted. That would be so cool! Wait a second...why is mom crying? Hmm, this can't be good. ...He sure is talking a lot. I don't understand. Mom, please stop crying. What's happening? Divorce? Did I do something wrong? Was it may fault? So, we're not going to be a family? "I don't have anything to say." I want to go to bed. ...Please leave me alone. I just want to be alone. Maybe Kara isn't doing anything. I should go see her. Yeah, I think I will.
That point in my life was the worst I'd ever experienced, and it's still hard for me to talk about it today. Before and well after that, I was happy...always having a smile on my face. It's what I was known for throughout school. When I was younger, I wanted to be something special and make a lot of money when I grew up. I thought I'd be friends forever with the friends I had...and that's not a complete lie. I was a dreamer for sure...always making crazy senerios with my friends or my brother. I was very active...dancing, running, singing, etc. I loved my family and friends (not that I don't anymore). They were the most important people in my life, and still are today.