So long!

Thanks for a wonderful semester and have Happy Holidays!!!

Frances Bean Cobain's art

This is a charcoal drawing from the daughter of the Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love. Is it interesting because of who she is or is it legitimate work on it's own. Maybe both?

Leonard Nimoy

Banksy

There is a grafitti artist in the UK named "Banksy" who does walls around the city. He had to hide his identity for some time because graffiti is illegal and he didn't want to get into trouble. The process and secrecy behind his art is intriguing and I certainly wouldn't mind if he "vandalized" something in my town. Graffiti art is quite cutting edge and there is still debate about whether it should really be considered art at all. This reminds me of how "pop art" was first received by the art world.

Sunflower Seeds

I recently saw an article about a sculpture at the Tate Modern by a Chinese artist named Ai WeiWei. It is a million individually sculpted and painted sunflower seed replicas made of porcelain carpeting the gallery floor. What an amazing piece of work!!

The Beat Generation

For the paper on Chapters 6 & 7 that is due (soon!) I picked up a book called "Women of the Beat Generation: The Writers, Artists and Muses at the Heart of a Revolution" by Brenda Knight. I chose to focus on a female artist from this time period for my "lesser known" artist because women at this point in history were still highly undervalued as artists and writers. I read Ginsberg and Kerouac as a teenager and loved there stuff but never really questioned if there were female beat writers at the time and this book explores quite a few of them. I highly recommend it!

Art in the Park

While walking through the Elm Park in Worcester to find a piece of art to do my first museum paper for class on, I could not help but stop and take pictures of a couple of other pieces as well.  I took my three year old son with me and I can't say who was more in awe of "Jellyfish" by Fernando De Olivera, him or me. I also enjoyed watching my son play with "Tube-O-Phone" by Susu Wing, an interactive sculpture made of pvc pipe that can be played like a musical instrument by blowing or banging on it.  I quite enjoyed "happening upon" art while walking through this familiar outdoor setting.

Decisions

I have commissioned my sister-in-law(who is an abstract artist)  to paint a picture for my redesigned bedroom. I love all of  her work so when she asked me what I wanted I said "Anything you do is fine". She pressed me for more details but I had a hard time coming up with anything. Finally, I said something relaxed and peaceful because it's for a bedroom after all. Also, something light and airy.  I cannot wait to see what she comes up with. It could be almost anything. Hopefully it's done before this class is over and I will post a picture of it.

Here is an example.......:

I wanted to post an example of the work I saw at the Mass MoCa. I said in my last post that I recently visited this museum and this artist's work made the biggest impact on me. I had said that I liked the use of different kinds of materials. Petah Coyne is the artist's name and her installment is "Everything that Rises Must Converge". She actually uses taxidermied animals as a material (as well as loads of luxurious fabric) . I don't have a picture of my favorite piece of hers which was a peacock tree that looked straight out of a fairytale but this is a good example. What do you think?  

Introduction

Hi, My name is Erin Anderson. I am starting online courses in Liberal Arts and this is my first Art class. This is also my first blog. I plan on becoming a librarian after getting a Masters in Library Science. I've always enjoyed viewing art as a hobby and recently visited MOCA in North Adams, Ma. and found the art thought provoking. I find the use of unusual materials the most interesting. I can't wait to learn more in this class!