Exhibition
Weekly Report 5 This past weekend was homecoming weekend; I missed homecoming. I had agreed months ago to go to my last year ISM mentor’s exhibition. It was located in a small gallery in the outskirts of Dallas, Valley House Gallery. Ms. Vernon had many paintings on display ranging in size from large to immense. Every single one of her paintings surprised and amazed me. Ms. Vernon has a habit of painting realistic subjects, such as a landscape, through more expressive means. Her colors pop, yet look like they fit perfectly into the setting she creates. Ms. Vernon’s brush strokes are quick, expressive, and precise; she creates shapes that blew my mind with their simplicity. Ms. Vernon astounded me; I realized she had never shown me a single one of her painting. Not one painting! Ms. Vernon is incredible. She wanted me to develop as a painter, so she focused entirely on me. Everytime I see Ms. Vernon, I am surprised by her character; I could not have asked for a better mentor. Admittedly, I did not talk much with Ms. Vernon. She was busy socializing with all the other visitors. Every single person in that gallery was different. Most of them were artists, well renowned artists too. I decided to use that opportunity to network. I enjoy learning from different artists, so it felt like the right thing to do. I met other people who studied under Ms. Vernon and even colleagues of hers. Many of these people seemed willing to share their knowledge and gave me some colleges to contact. Brook Haven was one college I was advised to contact twice. They all shared their names and contacts, and were incredibly encouraging. They all said it was impressive to see someone as young as me in an exhibition. In all honesty, I had never thought of that. I am pursuing this career young, but I still feel like I am not nearly as prepared as some of my peers. Maybe I should give myself some more credit. I mean, I am in ISM, and I am attempting to find a future career. Of course, I would not want to grow entitled, but building up my ego once in awhile can be useful.
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Am I Allowed to Break Rules?
Weekly Report 4 My last research assessment might have been my favorite so far. It was a thorough look into Helen Frankenthaler's style. I found her incredibly interesting because she broke many of painting’s rules, but still managed to created respected art. I should not say art has rules, they are more like guidelines than anything else. Either way, Frankenthaler broke various rules regarding composition and style. That made me wonder, am I allowed to break art’s rules? Art is free; there are no rules. At least that is what many claim. Why is it then so crucial that I know the rules of composition? How can someone differentiate good from bad artwork if there are no rules, no guidelines? If there are no rules and art is only subjective, then what is the point of critics? I believe there are guidelines to art; there are a variety of techniques an artist can employ that objective make his or her artwork good. Students learn these rules in order to develop their skill until they are skilled enough to create art without these rules. Art’s rules could be seen as training wheels, allowing a painter to develop and eventually surpass them. I believe that is why artists who break these rules are still respected despite their “unlawful” paintings. What differentiates two painters who break the rules of proportion is that one did so on purpose, the other did not. One knew about the rules and how to break it, the other did not. This leads me to why I believe am not allowed to break most rules: I do not have enough knowledge of art to confidently go against the grain. I need to grow as a painter before I can begin exploring and making statements about art through my paintings. This train of thought of mine was somewhat arbitrary, but it makes sense. I am beginning to understand painting more. As I do so, I will begin questioning everything I am being taught, and, in doing so, I will be able to truly stand apart from other painters and become as original as I can be. I would like to break rules, but, before I do so, I must learn as much as possible about painting. Feel Good
Weekly Report 3 I almost danced out of school every single day last week. I have been incredibly joyous recently, but nothing has changed. Well, my reliance on music has. In at least four of my classes I was caught, “jamming” (including ISM). I am constantly listening to music; in school, at home, while painting, while studying, and in the car. I have listened to plenty of genre’s, but they are not important to me. The beat matters above all else, I need a relatively fast paced song that makes me feel, well, good; like that radio on spotify, feel good music. Music was never important in my life beforehand, yet, slowly, I have begun appreciating music at an artistic level. Not like painting, I do not understand the process or even comprehend the deep issues explored in music, but I understand the emotions the songs exude. In reality, that is all I need to appreciate music; I am curious, though, so I have tried to understand why I feel the way I do and why I want to feel that way. I desperately seek to find music that makes me joyous. Why? The only real explanation I can think of it that it is an escape; I do not know if it is healthy or not, but I do not think that ,matters. Music provides me with peace; it gives me the confidence to accomplish my goals. Every provides me with the energy to keep working, and, honestly, I lack motivation without it. I can work faster, I will admit, it is a distraction, but it allows me to work for longer. I believe I seek out feel good music because its inherent joyous nature provides me with the motivation I need. It may be odd for me to suddenly write about music, but I felt it was necessary. Understanding why I enjoy music helps me understand art, painting. There exists a complexity in art that is difficult to understand. I have always struggled to understand it. Why did the artists paint this? What did he mean? I struggle to comprehend this complexity. However, I have noticed, recently, that by understanding other forms of art I can more easily understand the complexities of painting. That is why I wrote about music because it has helped me understand why people feel attached to specific paintings, styles, and subjects. Reflecting over my sudden fascination with music also provides me with a better understanding of myself, which can allow me to improve and better my own art. The Jawline is Off
Weekly Report 2 I will be honest, I already feel stressed. Maybe stressed is not the right word because it is a sort of “good stress”. Instead of feeling overwhelmed to the point of paralysis, I feel compelled to take action. I want to deal with the stress; it’s weird, I do not have to force myself to deal with it, I just do it. I even feel excited about it. Every class, besides economics and aquatics, feels challenging and intriguing, and in a way the challenge motivates me to work and better understand the topics. That is not to say I am not procrastinating, but I am definitely improving. For one, I am almost done with my first painting, well, it is a charcoal drawing, but it is an art piece so I am counting it. I have not devoted as much time to the drawing as I would like; however, I have spent more than usual. The extra time has allowed me to edit and change aspects of my piece I would have never had time to even notice otherwise. For example, yesterday I erased half of the drawing because my jawline looked odd; it led me to a convoluted journey that eventually showed me a colossal mistake I made early on (The rose was too small, and because I was using it as reference, half of the drawing was disproportionate.). I forgot how enjoyable creating art is. In an odd way, this drawing allowed me to rekindle that love. I thought motivating myself to draw would be more difficult, but, now that I have begun, the whole process has become much easier. I honestly cannot wait to get back into art with full force because it pleases me unlike anything else. |