In-Depth Project

I continued to experiment with different surfaces and continue to explore my original concept about gender roles in my country and the perseverance of the Vietnamese woman for the in-depth project and these pieces are the result.

When making my final piece, combined what I've learned from previous pieces. I decided to depict/paint my grandmother (a woman that has never had anything luxurious in her life and persevered even through war times) on a surface of fabrics (silk, fur) that are usually associated opulence. I also chose to utilize gold paint to detail her figure in hopes of paying tribute and give her something precious.

Small Works Continued

  Being assigned mediums that I'm not used to making work with really pushed me to take a chance and continue experimenting without a complete sense of direction. I began working with my new materials immediately in class and was able to (almost) complete one of the pieces (the abstract one). I wanted to continue research and make these pieces more "me". So I did some research on the history of women in my country (Vietnam). During the research, I found out that Vietnam was once a matriarchal society until new leaderships took over and a new patriarchal society was introduced. These pieces depict observations of gender roles in my country and the perseverance and grace of the Vietnamese woman.

Response to ICA Visit

        The first exhibit I saw was Ida Applebroog's Mercy Hospital, which I observed to have a rather negative connotation overall. Her journals depict scenes of domestic abuse, rape, harlotry and even murder. I noticed that all of the scenes shown in her work are very private scenes that Applebroog took and made to be very public through her expressive and cartoonish journals and paintings; these scenes can easily be uncomfortable to some viewers for they hit very close to some triggering experiences and feelings. I was especially intrigued with her "BLUE BOOKS" series; she illustrated several domestic dramas utilizing repetition and poetic monologues which prompted me to become fascinated and curious to analyze each of the situations. When observing Appplebroog's large oil paintings, I find that it's interesting how she utilized cartoonish figures to render gruesome hospital scenes. The figures in Ida Applebroog's drawings are very organically formed and bear an eerie resemblance to anatomical human parts; these drawings, coupled with her thought provoking writings become very emotionally charged pieces.
        When looking at the work of Susan Te Kahurangi King, I could feel her impulse to work and create. From a distance, some of her drawings look like typical abstract works, maybe even landscapes, but upon closer inspection I could see that she utilized many cartoonish figures and objects to make up these abstract scenes. Another thing I noted is her artistic transformation throughout her life. Her early works comprised of bold colors and forms, then they gradually started to become less colorful to focus on the possible narrations that could be occurring; her recent and later works are almost completely abstract and comprised of the vivid colors once again. After learning that King lost her ability to speak as a child and was diagnosed as severely autistic, I started to look at her work through a different lens and was left with a sense of awe-struck curiosity. I began to ask questions like: What prompted her to start and continue drawing? What must be going through her head as a child for her to start illustrating the way she does (referring to the distorted drawings of Donald Duck)?

    

              

    

    

Small Works: Female Energy

Thought process:

This candle is what I initially based my three small works on. Although it isn't considered a handmade piece of folk art, I do see artistic aspects in the illustration on the candle and it did trigger my aesthetic emotion. The image of Mary, to me, represents a strong female presence and the roses surrounding her gave me the idea to utilize real roses in my three pieces. I chose to depict caryatids and the female greek bust because
to me they're literally iconic female figures in human history.

Response John Berger's "The White Bird"

The article is very detailed, insightful, and peppered with a philosophical mindset that I, at first, find to be a little difficult to follow. After carefully rereading the article and revisiting some of its passages, I found myself admiring Berger’s analytical process of using a simple white wooden bird to explain our tradition of art. The most profound passage to me was when Berger stated, “ The evolution of natural forms and the evolution of human perception have coincided to produce the phenomenon of a potential recognition: what is and what we can see (and by seeing also feel) sometimes meet at a point of affirmation. This point, this coincidence, is two-faced: what has been seen is recognized and affirmed and, at the same time, the seer is affirmed by what he sees.” This passage alone conveys to me what the aesthetic emotion derives from; I now understand that aesthetics have always been an inherent part of nature and is therefore impossible  to erase. In a fleeting moment, when we happen to cross paths with something that we find beautiful, everything will seem to have order. In that moment the aesthetic emotion will offer us a sense of peace and hopefulness amidst this chaotic world we live in.

Berger believes that art occurs when humans attempt to make sense of the ephemeral aesthetic emotion and make it “permanent.” Gaining this new insight has allowed me to effectively enhance my artistic process. Before further analyzing the five qualities of the wooden bird, Berger mentioned that even though the little wooden white birds cannot be compared to the caliber of a Van Gogh or a Rembrandt, it still posses a mysterious quality and the ability to captivate its viewer. This statement encouraged me to actually take steps out of my comfort zone of paint and brush and embrace other mediums during my art making processes. I now realize that it only makes sense to utilize a plethora of mediums to attempt to make a mysterious aesthetic emotion tangible and permanent. 

In-Class Paper Folding Exercise

Labels Help You Organize

All blog posts must be labeled with two keywords, which blogger calls Labels. When faculty visits your blog for evaluation purposes, we will use the labels to quickly find your work. If you do not use the keywords properly, we will not be able to find your work. Proper set-up and maintenance of your blog falls under the Research and Participation part of your grade which counts for 30% of the overall semester grade. 

Topical Keywords

The first set of keywords correspond to the module we are working in. We will refer to these as topical keywords since they correspond to the topic we are exploring over the two-week periods. Your first group of posts will be labeled under Topic: Creative Impulse since this is the first topic (Topic #1). Here are the topical keywords you will use through out the semester:

Topic: Creative Impulse

Topic: Pattern and Ornament

Topic: Rhinoceros

Topic: Narrative

Topic: Landscape

Topic: Zine

Categorical Keywords

The second set of keywords will organize your posts according to kind. Here are the Keywords you will use for Labels:

Exercises - tag for posts documenting all assigned exercises. The first one will be the paper folding exercise from the first class. 

Readings - tag for posts containing your two paragraph responses to the assigned readings. The first ones will be for "The White Bird" and the Jerry Saltz article from Vulture.com. 

Small Works - tag for posts documenting all assigned small works. The first blog post labeled Small Works will contain images and accompanying descriptions of the three small works you complete for the Creative Impulse Module (Topic #1). 

In-Depth Projects - tag for posts documenting all assigned In-Depth projects. The first blog post labeled In-Depth Projects will contain images (or video if appropriate) and accompanying descriptions of the more robust work you produce in response to the Creative Impulse Module (Topic #1).

Outside Visits - tag for posts containing your two paragraph responses to all required visits outside of the classroom. These include visits we do together as a class [during class time] or individually outside of class time. 

Please be sure to use both a topical and categorical keyword when labeling your posts.

Next Steps

1. After copying and pasting this text into your first blog post, create your labels from the keywords we listed above. In the Edit post window you will find an area titles Labels where you can add your own custom labels to your blog. This is where you will add the keywords we listed above. Please be sure to add all keywords to the Labels window for this first blog post. 

The easiest way to do this is by copying and pasting the following text into the Labels window for this blog post:

Topic: Creative Impulse, Topic: Pattern and Ornament, Topic: Rhinoceros, Topic: Narrative, Topic: Landscape, Topic: Zine, Exercises, Readings, Small Works, In-Depth Projects, Outside Visits