Month: November 2021

Expressionism, Fauvism, & Early 20th Century Cubism, Dadaism, & Surrealism

Wassily Kandinsky was born in Moscow, Russia in December of 1866 to a family of businessmen. He grew up with European and Asian culture as a prominent aspect in his life and would travel often to explore around Europe. Kandinsky found himself drawn to the arts from an early age, learning to play the piano and cello, and would later take an interest in drawing. This would bring him to try painting and from there Kandinsky fell in love with the process of creating art. “I remember that drawing and a little bit later painting lifted me out of the reality”. This interesting perspective he had when creating art pieces and how he viewed colors would be a defining trait found in Kandinsky’s Expressionist works.

Even though Kandinsky had an inclination towards the Arts he went to study Law and Economics at the University of Moscow. During his time at the university, Kandinsky was sent on an ethnographic trip in the north of Russia. This is where he was introduced to non-realistic Russian Folkstyle painting. This is also where he was reminded of his love for art and colour. Yet, Kandinsky had always believed that “Art was a luxury forbidden to a Russian” and struggled with that mindset for years. Eventually, Kandinsky finished his degree to a doctorate level and was even offered a job as a professor for a university. At the age of 3o years old Kandinsky decided it was now or never and turned down the professor position and took the first train to Germany to become an artist.

Kandinsky enrolled in an Art course in Munich and began his art studies under the Professor Anton Azbé and Franz von Stuck. He would eventually garner a moderately successful career known for being a professional artist who worked with current trends. It wasn’t until he began to break away and invent his own art form entirely where he would cement his legacy.

Kadnisky was the first ever Abstract artist and was famous for his use of colour and emotion in his works. When describing how he pairs colors together he says, “each color lives by its mysterious life”. The way he uses and thinks about color is fascinating. He loved to create connections between paintings and music. Attempting to create a language with his work to bridge the gap between visual non-representational pieces and a visual language that could depict emotions, sounds, and actions. This was what would separate his work from mediocracy and pave the way for future Abstract artists.

Personally, I love the way Kadnisky thought about and used colour in his work. Music is also a large inspiration to me, so when looking at his paintings I would try to imagine what type of song he would listen to when creating each piece. Yet, most of all I appreciate Kadnisky’s bravery to pursue his passions, especially when his whole life seemed completely set out for him to be anything other than an artist. It shows it’s never too late to go after your passions with enough hard work and dedication. Art and art history would not be the same if Kadnisky hadn’t dropped everything to follow his dreams.

Citations:

McMullen, Roy Donald. “Wassily Kandinsky.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 16 Nov. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Wassily-Kandinsky.

“Wassily Kandinsky – 226 Artworks – Painting.” Www.wikiart.org, https://www.wikiart.org/en/wassily-kandinsky.

“Wassily Kandinsky Paintings, Bio, Ideas.” The Art Story, https://www.theartstory.org/artist/kandinsky-wassily/.

“Wassily Kandinsky.” Wassily Kandinsky – 211 Artworks, Bio & Shows on Artsy, https://www.artsy.net/artist/wassily-kandinsky.

“Wassily Kandinsky.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Nov. 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wassily_Kandinsky.

Image Citations:

“Around the Circle.” The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation, https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/1985.

“Composition 8.” The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation, https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/1924.

“Composition X, 1939.” Wassily Kandinsky, 1 Jan. 1970, https://www.wassilykandinsky.net/work-62.php.

“On White II, 1923 – Wassily Kandinsky.” Www.wikiart.org, 1 Jan. 1970, https://www.wikiart.org/en/wassily-kandinsky/on-white-ii-1923.

“Several Circles.” The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation, https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/1992.

Summary Assignment

A revised version of my English 100 Summary Assignment, written to condense Amy Flemings Article “The importance of urban forests: why money really does grow on trees.”

Writer for The Guardian, Amy Flemings advocates for modern canopies by describing their significant health benefits in her article: “The importance of urban forests: why money really does grow on trees.” Through Flemings’s research, she has come to recognize the significant issue that a lack of emphasis on maintaining and rebuilding urban forests leads to in youth: “each generation will pass on less experience of the natural environment” (5). Flemings described the danger of children growing up without understanding the true value of trees, and how that will affect their future decisions. Flemings also spoke with Historian Jill Jones, who explains the positive economic impact of trees (3). Jones notes how trees “reduce heating energy by a further 20-50%” (qtd. in Flemings 2) and increase property value (2). Fleming further discusses the benefits of trees, remarking the positive impact on the planet as they clear airborne pollutants and cool cities (2). These are some examples of trees aid to society, ignoring the plethora of mental and physical health benefits (4). Allowing future generations to make urban forest-conscious decisions will improve the general quality of life. Jones states due to “disease, development and shrinking municipal budgets” (qtd. in Flemings 1). there is a lack of canopies. Thankfully, Flemings says that organizations like Big Trees Project and the United Nations conference on sustainable urban development make efforts to restore and re-integrate urban forests back into society (1).

Fleming, Amy. “The importance of urban forests: why money really does grow on trees.” The Guardian, 12 October, 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/oct/12/ importance-urban-forests-money-grow-trees. Accessed September 24^th 2021.

English Assignment Introduction Paragraph

Hello, my name is Rachel and I am currently a first-year at Capilano University’s IDEA program. I’m eighteen years old and have spent my whole life to this point in North Vancouver. This is where I developed my passion for art, reading, and writing; but, I joined the program for my love of storytelling. Over the next four years of the program, I hope to improve my technical and creative skills so that through my work I can find unique ways to tell these stories. Outside of the program, I enjoy playing ice hockey, gardening (or attempting to), and listening to way too much music.

Artifact Project Rational

For my Artifact Project, I decided upon a popular trend in the Victorian Era, that started with Queen Victoria herself, called the Lover’s Eye, or a painted miniature. Lover’s Eye’s were typically a painted watercolor eye of one person’s lover that they would wear on a piece of jewelry. The Lover’s Eye would most commonly be a broach in a simple frame that could be surrounded by jewls if you could afford it. The jewelry was used as a discrete way of showing who the person was either dating or courting and often sparked gossip over who was in the miniature. Yet, it was most commaly used as a way to show affection. I used the painting above as a reference for how I would take my photo later.

Originally I sketched out more intricate designs like the image below. Unfortunately, I have never made jewelry, so I needed to simplify the design so I could complete a broach with the limited materials and knowledge in jewelry making I had. I ended up basing the design off the Lovers Eye above. I knew I wanted to surround the eye in pearls as it was commonly used to symbolize tears, meaning the person whose eye in the portrait had passed away.

I began by arranging and threading fake pearls on a thin metal wire to surround the eye. I cut out a piece of mixed-media paper and painted a left eye in watercolor. Lover’s eyes are typically paintings of the left eye as it’s said to be connected to the heart. I then hot glued the ring of pearls to the paper and then hot glued the miniature to a backing of an old broach. I thought it looked too simple so I evenly spaced out five fake black gems and created a platform in hot glue so that the gems would stand out from the pearls then glued them down. I went in after with a pencil crayon over the eye to fix some values and then set up the camera shoot to mimic the first Fatima Ronquillo painting of Gucci’s Lover’s Eye. Overall the process went smoothly and took me an estimated 4 hours in total with research to complete the assignment. Other than my failure to understand a hot glue gun at first I’d say the Artifact came out how I hoped it would. If I wanted to improve I might have done more research into jewelry to allow me to better understand how to make a more intricate design. I’d give myself a 9 out of 10.

Here’s the final outcome.

Citations:

Bewkes, Stacey, et al. “Lover’s Eyes: A History Lesson.” Katie Considers, 5 June 2018, https://katieconsiders.com/2018/06/05/miniature-lovers-eye-jewelry/.

ESMAN, ABIGAIL R. “Lover’s Eye Jewelry: This Romantic (Yet Eerie) Tradition Is Entrancing Artists Right Now.” The Study, 29 Oct. 2020, https://www.1stdibs.com/blogs/the-study/lovers-eye-jewelry/.

Gotthardt, Alexxa. “Why Lovers in 18th-Century England Exchanged Mysterious Painted Eyes.” Artsy, 4 Jan. 2019, https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-mysterious-history-lovers-eye-jewelry.

All image Citations came from this site:

Bewkes, Stacey, et al. “Lover’s Eyes: A History Lesson.” Katie Considers, 5 June 2018, https://katieconsiders.com/2018/06/05/miniature-lovers-eye-jewelry/.

Carl Jung’s Psychology of the Unconscious published in 1913

Carl Jung’s Many Intrests

Born in 1875, famous Swiss Psychotherapist and Psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung would spend his early years developing an interest in religious history and medicine. He would go on to study at the University of Basel pursing and completing a medical degree. Yet, it would be the time spent after his degree where he would begin to create some of his most famous work. Jung joined the Burghoelzli Clinic in Zurich after graduation and would cultivate a keen interest into the complexities of the human unconscious mind.

A Diffrence in Academic Opinion

Jung would go on to travel the world and write books on his new psychoanalytical theories. Along his journeys, Jung would send a copy of one of his books “Studies in World Association” to Sigmound Freud. Impressed with Jung’s work, the equally famous Austrian neurologist Freud would offer to have him visit. Togther they would discuss ideas of the human subconscious. Jung agreed with Freud’s theories but believed there was something more that Freud hadn’t tapped into yet. They would become good friends intill parting ways due to a difference in academic opinion, as Freud would openly criticize Jung’s idea of a collective consciousness and the idea Jung developed categorizing the unconscious into archetypes.

Though this lead to the end of their friendship, this theory on archytypes would be Jung’s most famous and long lasting idea. He would also explore the religious nature behind human psychology, going back to his childhood interest in the psyoclogical impact of religion. Jung founded analytical psychology and would popularized the idea of the two personality types of introversion and extroversion. He would even go on to write many more books like “Archtypes and the Collevtive Unconscious”, “Man and his Symbols”, and “The Relations Between the Ego and the Unconscious”. Carl Jung’s work is one of the most influential and well recognized. He alone would help revolutionize psychoanalytical theories and even influence modern pop-culturte.

K-pop, Gaming, and Other Psychological Studies

Carl Jung would shape the future for studies done into Psychology. Psychotherapist and Psychiatrist would build off his work in Word Association and Divergent Veiws, Psyche and the Unconscious Mind, Archetypes, Introversion and Extroversion, and the Significance of Dreams. There would also be influence from Jung’s work that he couldn’t have forseen.

Jung would go on to also impact the Abstract and Expressionist Art movements. Painters like Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko would use the idea on exploring the unconscious mind in their drawings and paintings. More recent pop culture references would be the international K-pop group BTS, as they would be inspired to create three albums further exploring Jung’s work into unconsciousness with their music. They would include albums tracks that are titled after Jung’s famous archtypes, “Map of the Soul: Persona”, “Map of the Soul: Ego”, and “Map of the Soul: Shadow”. Another famous reference to Jung’s work would be the video game titled Persona. Currently there are 5 very popular games in this series with characters and themes that also use the Archtypes from Jung’s work. Jung’s theories have spread to multiple platforms, mediums, and even have been explored in films. Whether it’s splatter paint art, K-pop songs, violent videogames, or Jung’s studies and books; there is a form of media accessible for all to learn from and enjoy.

Citations:

“Carl Jung’s 11 Best Books.” Exploring Your Mind, 25 Nov. 2017, https://exploringyourmind.com/carl-jungs-11-best-books/.

Erin, Adrinne. “Carl Jung’s Contributions To Psychology.” Carl Jung’s Contributions to Psychology, 10 Oct. 2019, http://www.dreampositive.info/carl-jungs-contributions-to-psychology/.

Fordham, Frieda. “Carl Jung.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/biography/Carl-Jung.

Jay, Martin Evan. “Sigmund Freud.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 1 Oct. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sigmund-Freud.

projects, Contributors to Wikimedia. “Carl Jung.” Wikiquote, Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 14 Oct. 2021, https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Jung.

Team, GoodTherapy Editor. “Carl Jung (1875-1961).” Carl Jung Biography, GoodTherapy, 11 Nov. 2011, https://www.goodtherapy.org/famous-psychologists/carl-jung.html.

Image Citations:

Jung, C.G., and June Singer. “Books-BB Version.” New York Center for Jungian Studies, 7 May 2021, https://nyjungcenter.org/books/.

“Persona 5.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 2 Nov. 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persona_5.

Peutherer, Jamie. “Carl Jung’s Collective Unconscious Explained: Xnanga.” Psychology, Philosophy & Self-Improvement Articles, 18 Apr. 2017, https://www.xnanga.co.uk/psychology/jungs-collective-unconscious/.

projects, Contributors to Wikimedia. “Carl Jung.” Wikiquote, Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 14 Oct. 2021, https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Jung.

Ruiz, Susana L. “Analytical Psychology of C.g.jung L Psicoanalista Madrid.” Analytical Psychology of C.G.Jung l Psicoanalista Madrid, 14 Sept. 2019, https://bienestarpsicoanalisis.com/analytical-psychology/.

Realism, Pre-Impressionism, & Pre-Raphaelites & Impressionism & Post-Impressionism

Painter, John Constable revolutionized the genre of landscape paintings with his Romantic style that became popular in the late 18th century. Even though his paintings hang in the most prestigious of galleries, and sell for millions of dollars; within his own lifetime he didn’t garner much financial success. Yet, that doesn’t mean neither he nor his work wouldn’t have any impact. In fact, his work would help define future art movements and would elevate landscape painting to be taken seriously as an art form.

When Constable painted, he painted from life and not his imagination. “When I sit down to make a sketch from nature, the first thing I try to do is to forget that I have ever seen a picture.” He would make many sketches in the wilderness before even starting the painting process.

J.M.W. is another famous Romantic landscape artist whose name is often brought up in conversation along with constable. His works and ideas were created too early in time to be fully appreciated by the public and I enjoyed viewing the evolution of his art. I admire the amount of movement he captures in colorful thin layers of oil that he uses to transform a landscape beyond what the ordinary eye can see. I wanted to look into both artists because of how closely ties together their work is. J.M.W. became more famous for his revolutionary art after his time for good reason. Yet, after completing the recent landscape assignment, I was drawn to John Constable’s work. While I do appreciate the painting style of J.M.W. Turner, I found that when painting my own landscapes I started with thin washes of paint but ended up blocking in shapes with much more opaque paint and sticking to using more opaque paint. Constable contrasted Turner in many ways, the most notable in their work would be how grounded and opaque Constable’s landscapes feel. I admire his brushwork and felt it would be more beneficial for me to study Constable’s work than another artist in hopes that I can learn to incorporate some of his techniques and ideas into my future landscapes.

Even though his landscapes are beautifully crafted, one of my favorite parts about researching John Constable ended up being his written work. I loved reading his work annotations and the letters he left behind. It gave an insight into his thought process and allowed me to further understand him and what he valued in art. For instance, Constable states “The sound of water escaping from the mill dams, etc., willows, rotten planks, slimy posts, and brickwork, I love such things.” He talks often about his love for the countryside and enjoying the small details that add to the atmosphere. His genuine love for nature shows in his Plein air paintings and is overall really inspiring. He loved and painted nature so much that a part of the English countryside in Suffolk was named ‘Constable Country. He used painting as a way to understand his surroundings. In his own words, Constable wrote to a friend “painting is but another word for feeling”, and I think that’s a really beautiful way to look at creating art.

Work Citations:

“The Hay Wain.” The National Gallery, 1 Jan. 1970, https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/john-constable-the-hay-wain.

“John Constable.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Constable.

Lyles, Anne, and David B Brown. “’Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows’, John Constable, Exhibited 1831.” Tate, Mar. 13AD, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/constable-salisbury-cathedral-from-the-meadows-t13896.

Riggs, Terry. “’Sketch for ‘Hadleigh Castle”, John Constable, C.1828–9.” Tate, Feb. 1998, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/constable-sketch-for-hadleigh-castle-n04810.

“Unearthed John Constable Drawings Sell for £92K.” BBC News, BBC, 6 Mar. 2019, https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-suffolk-47470069.

Image Citations:

“The Hay Wain.” The National Gallery, 1 Jan. 1970, https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/john-constable-the-hay-wain.

Lyles, Anne, and David B Brown. “’Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows’, John Constable, Exhibited 1831.” Tate, Mar. 13AD, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/constable-salisbury-cathedral-from-the-meadows-t13896.

Riggs, Terry. “’Sketch for ‘Hadleigh Castle”, John Constable, C.1828–9.” Tate, Feb. 1998, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/constable-sketch-for-hadleigh-castle-n04810.

“Weymouth Bay: Bowleaze Cove and Jordon Hill.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 11 Oct. 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weymouth_Bay:_Bowleaze_Cove_and_Jordon_Hill.

“The White Horse.” Art Object Page, https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.1146.html.