Creative Impulse: Reading - Jerry Saltz on the Outsider Art Fair

Jerry Saltz article opened a whole new world, just because I had no idea  that the art business was full of discrimination. Of course I knew there was a difference between artists that had the opportunity to go to art school and those that are natural talented without formal education. The necessity of the outsiders of creating their own art space remind me of the impressionist in 1863 and The Salon des Refuses. Why is so difficult for museums and galleries to accept great quality artworks from uknowns? Maybe the artists have to sell their souls to the devil or to the gallery owner to be included on an exhibition? Who decides if the artist qualify to show their pieces in galleries or museums?

This article brought more doubts and questions rather than answers. In a way I agree with Saltz when he said that the institutions need to change their old policies of who is entitled for an exhibition. We live in the 21th century and many things had change; technology and social media can make an unknown artist famous and  keep it evolving. On the other side,  now in art school I am starting to feel and understand the sacrifices educated artists went thru to pursue their dream career. Having your work exposed in an art space sounds more like a reward for the hard work and a symbol of success.

Creative Impulse: Reading - The White Bird by John Berger

While reading "The White Bird" by John Berger I found very interesting how Berger used the symbolism of a wooden bird to refer to aesthetics. This reading describes the way artists required some type of skills in order to construct their artwork using the bird as a metaphor. Do you believe you can create something without at least a little bit of craftsmanship? I agree with Berger on that point; even though skills might not be the most important characteristic to become an artist and practice will always make perfect, craftsmanship is required as a starting point. Other important feature that Berger mention on his essay is simplicity, less is more like the popular saying adding masterpiece value to every artwork. Berger used the object to outline the vital characteristics artists usually follow to complete a piece. 

Other fascinating comparison Berger used in relation to aesthetics is nature. How nature is a significant component when you need to understand the concept of beauty  and the relationship with an artwork. Human perception is changing, you and me might differ in what we consider beauty but at the same time those juxtaposed opinions is what makes art and nature captivating. Not only describing the artist point of view, but the way the viewer feels and sees your artwork. Aesthetics is a method to organize and settle standards for art. Also, art needs purpose and emotion in the creation process to make it valuable not only for the viewer but for the artist itself.  Personally I consider my art a weapon, a tool, a way of communicating and producing change; I agree with Berger opinion of art having the energy of perception and creation.

Creative Impulse: Exercise-Paper Folding

Origami 

First Class Assignment !!!! I wanted to make an origami fish but I suddenly forgot how to fold the paper so this fox/rabbit hybrid was the final result :)

WARP First Post

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.