Katie's Self Evaluation/ Reflection

Part 1:

1. I think that I was successful in using my mentor artist in my latest piece. I was able to in cooperate the same type of expressive paint strokes and movements within the image. An interesting part of his work was the way that he would blend the ends of the focal image into the background of the piece. For instance, in my ballerina toe points and extended arms I blended them into the expressive background of my art piece. In his artwork you were able to tell the main focus and were drawn to the image even though they weren’t necessarily painted in the middle of the canvas. In my latest art piece you were drawn to the ballerinas, though they stood off to the left of the canvas and even extended beyond.

2. The difference between inspiration and imitation is clear. Inspiration is when you, as the artist, are inspired or stimulated to create your own piece of work by your surroundings. When an artist is inspired you see an image and want to create it as your own piece of work, maybe by changing locations and colors, or adding your own experiences and ideas into the piece to make your own. Imitation is very different from inspiration. When you imitate an image you are just creating the same thing you see. You aren’t taking it to a new level by in cooperating new ideas as your own idea. You are trying to mimic the exact image you see in front of you.

Part 2:

There are a lot of opinions of what can be considered artwork and the time spent on the art piece. In my opinion time is crucial for art. Although there are many famous pieces of artwork that are blank canvases and not time consuming pieces, I think that the best pieces are the ones that take time to create. The talent and hard work are most evident when there is time spent on the pieces. A piece of art needs a lot of time to create to be well done with detail. Time allows the artist to be able to create the piece of work as well as thoroughly thinking about decisions. Time also allows the artist to have space from the piece for a little and come back to it with a fresh mind and motivated attitude.

Part 3:

1. “1000 hours of staring” by Tom Friedman: Based upon my criteria I don’t believe that this piece of artwork is true art. I think that anyone would be able to leave a white canvas plain and title it as something that dramatically seems like they took time into the piece. The title to me seems like the artist wasn’t inspired to make anything, and didn’t create anything from his imagination.

2. Sistine Chapel ceiling by Michelangelo: When I see this, I consider it artwork because of the time, talent, and dedication that it took to create this ceiling. There was a lot of time used to plan out that the different measurements and accuracy of the different, detailed figures shown.

3. The Bowery in Two Inadequate Descriptive Systems by Martha Rosler: In my opinion, I wouldn’t say that this was true artwork. I don’t think there is enough dedication and skill to be able to create what she has made. There is an interesting sense of creativity used but based upon my criteria. I don’t think that it is necessarily art because there is no hands on talent and work put into the idea.

4. Jackson Pollock #8: This is another piece of artwork based on my criteria that doesn’t show much craftsmanship or dedication. I think that many people could imitate this piece of work easily and has been though of by other artists. I know that he is a well-known and talented artist but to me this piece of work doesn’t show detail and hard work.

5. Sol le Witt's wall drawings: I think that these wall drawings are very interesting and take a lot of talent to successfully create. There was a lot of time to be able to make the designs as perfect as they seem to look. I think that you have to plan and visually see the creation before you start. I know that he had to have taken a lot of time to make them perfect, such as the wall with circles they have to be perfectly painted and spaced evenly. I know that it would take a lot of talent and dedication to be able to accurately create this. Sol le Witt had to have used a lot of time and patience to develop the talent put into the walls.