Believing is Seeing: Creating the Culture of Art

In my reflection paper on Believing is Seeing by Mary Anne Staniszewski I wrote about the connection between art and culture. I also discussed how this connection relates to the modern digital age. Here is the closing paragraph from my paper.

Art and culture will be forever intertwined. Staniszewski says, at the end of her book, “If we accept the fact that everything is shaped by our culture, we then acknowledge that we create our own reality. We therefore contribute to it and can change it.” (p.298) More than ever we are contributing to the culture of art, and it is changing. Not only through methods of viewing, but of creating. More art is being created through digital means than ever before. More people have access to digital tools than to traditional materials, and can begin to create aesthetic pieces in their homes with little or no formal training. Methods and ideas are shared through digital access and it sometimes appears that much of the art of today becomes homogeneous. The art that does stand out and gains value and importance is that which comes from individual creativity, influenced by culture and taste, but none the less unique in some aspect. Staniszewski reflects on this idea:

The most important artists of our time are visionary in that they continue to challenge us to see our world differently. They represent our culture in enlightened and, at times, beautiful ways. Artists prepare the mind and the spirit for new ideas- new ways of seeing. (p. 289)

The digital age has brought about new ways of seeing and sharing. Our world, in a sense has 
become smaller. Perhaps the artists of today will help us all to see that we share this world, and despite our cultural differences, we can see the beauty around us if we look closely.

Final Project Proposal

For my final project I have chosen to teach the class how to create movement from a still picture. Using blur lines and layers in Photoshop I will teach students how to make an object, like a car, look like it has motion lines trailing behind it. This is a fun edit that is fairly easy to accomplish and can make a simple photo more exciting!

Similar to this picture:

Mandalas

I created mandalas from cropped portions of my photos using Photoshop. This mandala began as a picture of pottery from Bennington Pottery. Here is the original.

This one is a wooden horse statue also in Bennington. Here is the original.

Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?

The author, Linda Nochlin, addressed this question in her 1971 essay. She discussed the role that women have played in society as a major roadblock to ‘greatness’. She states, “Everything that is usual appears natural.” And for hundreds of years the ‘usual’ state of things was that women were inferior to men and, along with other minorities, were not given the advantages of the white, middle and upper class males. Nochlin also lays blame on our educational institutions, where women, until fairly recently, were not given an equal education.

Mary Anne Staniszewski, in Believing is Seeing, refers to this same issue. She states, “The ability to do something- the power to achieve, rule, invent, and create- is founded upon an individual’s belief that he or she has the right to do it. An individual must have faith in his or her ability, and then, most important, there must be access to the arenas of achievement and power.” (p. 128)     

Like both authors, I originally took the art history that is presented at face value. I never stopped to consider why there were no women in the early chapters. I tend to see history for just that- what happened, happened. Taking a closer look, I understand why there have been no ‘Great’ women artists. It was the social order of life. Until that began to change women were not given the opportunity or time, to become great, even if they had possessed the raw talent.

Nochlin and Staniszewski both go on to discuss ‘genius’. Nochlin discusses genius or greatness as something that is built up little by little from the time you are born, by family and education. This supports the fact that males achieved this greatness, since they were given more attention and opportunities to learn and explore than females. Staniszewski sums this up by saying, “We have now come to realize, however, that the concept of genius- this natural gift to create- is, rather, a talent developed thanks to privilege.” (p.125)

Of course, in recent decades the role of women, and minorities, in society has changed. Many more are given opportunities. There have been many women artists beginning in the early 20th century, and many more today. Have any of them achieved ‘Greatness’? I guess that depends on the definition of greatness that you chose to use- one defined by a white, middle class male or your own.

What Is Art?

Not Art…

Kachina Doll (Kokopol), probably late 19th century, Brooklyn Museum

Art…


Modern Kachina Doll Carving - $500-4,000


Not Art…

Anasazi pottery from the late 1300’s

Art…

Modern Hopi Pottery Vase - $4,700

The first chapter in the book Believing Is Seeing: Creating the Culture of Art by Mary Anne Straniszewski asks the question What is Art? The main focus of this chapter is that modern culture has created art and decided what constitutes pieces of art. As a modern society we have taken many ancient pieces, given them names and placed them in a museum. We consider the ancient works art because to us they have an aesthetic value. When they were created they were not considered art, in the way we think of it. These items were woven into the societies that created them. The Kachina doll in the top picture was used in ceremonies and hung on the wall to teach young people about the Hopi beliefs of the spirit world. In contrast the modern Kachina in the next picture was created as a work of art by a member of the Hopi tribe to be sold to people outside of the culture. Similarly, the ancient pottery was probably used to hold liquid for daily living. The modern Hopi pot was created to sell and will most likely be placed on a shelf or used as a vase. Even though the items of each set are similar, they were created with different purposes. The author suggests that if the creator did not have the purpose of creating an aesthetic piece, then the item should not be considered a work of art. The author does not deny that these pieces have aesthetic value. She only suggests that we should consider the history, known or unknown, of these items. That we can not know how the items were seen in their time because our context is so different than that of the people who saw and used them.   

Digital Photography Experiences

Over the past few weeks I have been experimenting with digital photography. I am thankful to have had the opportunity to learn more about this medium and explore its artistic possibilities. I have been taking pictures with my DSLR camera for several years, but I was mostly using the automatic settings. Through the readings and assignments on photography, I was able to learn more about using manual settings and how this can enhance my photography. I am beginning to understand the relationships between the ISO, aperature and shutter speed, and how to use meters to know if the shot will have the right amount of light. I really enjoyed the framing photos exercise. I like framing subjects in unusual ways and this exercise gave me more ideas on how to do this and create an appealing shot. I also experimented with different perspectives, lighting and movement. I learned how to adjust manual settings to stop or blur motion. I still consider myself very much a beginner, but now I can build on the basics I have learned to improve my picture taking skills.
Editing digital images is a way for an artist to add their own personal vision into a photograph. I have learned some basics in Photoshop and I am eager to learn more about this program and what I can do with it. I really enjoyed working with the colors of some of my pictures. I think that creating colorized photos adds more of my own artistic spin on an image. Editing also allows me to narrow in on particular aspects of a photo that I would like to highlight. This process may challenge some people’s ideas on photography. Since the finished photo may have little resemblance to the actual picture that was taken, it may not be viewed by some as an authentic photograph. Unaltered photographs can be viewed as art, but there has to be a distinction between photographs that merely document what we see and those that have been manipulated into another form of art.

Here is the link to my digital photography website: www.lissabphotography.weebly.com

Stop Motion Dude

Here is a link to our finished stop motion video using our 3-D printed blue robot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN0Ar2bZt7k The process of taking over 200 pictures was a tedious one. We moved the scene millimeters each time we took a photo. I have a new appreciation for people who make longer stop motion videos and full length films. Moving a scene millimeters at a time for days, weeks or years has got to be an act of passion. But I will say that dropping our photos into movie maker and seeing the scene actually move was very rewarding!