ISTA401

First day of class today for ISTA401.
So we are going to reuse this blog for this course as well! :)

Hello Prof. Forbes or fellow ISTA class mates,
and welcome to my blog!

One Man's Dirt is Another Man's Treasure

Well in this case its a dog.....

I have a puppy (he'll be 2 years old in May) and well I consider him to be my baby.
Here's a picture of him as a baby:

I still look at this picture and think "awwwwwwwwwwwww. what a cute puppyyyyyyy."
Now he's grown into kind of a monster and is huge and bulky as he still thinks he's this size.

Now one of Tahoe's favorite things to do is eat stuff that he's not supposed to. (Typical dog right?) Yet when it comes down to it he's a complete baby. He believes that whatever we put in the trash is fair game for him because technically we do not want it anymore. Wouldn't that technically be true? He believes that we don't want anymore can now become his mid-day snack. His new thing to gloat about to the other dogs at the dog park. 

For instance, one day we came home and found this in our living room. He had taken all of his toys and torn the stuffing out of them. To us this was just a huge mess that was going to be a pain to clean up. To Tahoe it was his favorite animals all around him and he was able to play with them as much as he wanted. Could this be considered an art work to a dog? Did his tearing up of his favorite toys just so he could lie in them become his own art work? Many do believe so. The "dirt" that he had created in our living room turned out be an artwork for him as he fought us while we tried to clean it up. He was proud of his creation and did not want anyone to mess it up. 

If no one knew the truth most art could be considered "garbage" or "dirt". It doesn't take a trained eye to see that it can be right in front of you wherever you go. Also in the picture below, Tahoe loves his first christmas tree. To him this was art as well :)

My Personal Style

So you may wonder, "Marie! What kind of art do you like?". My response to this question is not an easy straightforward answer. There is so many different styles that I like and connect with.
This is the first assortment of photos:
I would call these bohemian, if anything..

Photoshop

Should Photoshop actually be considered as art?
It could be considered an art to create it and yes it does look really good when you're done (usually).
But is the outcome art and should it be allowed?

There is no definition of art so I'm going to state. Yes.
I do not think that companies should be allowed to edit photos of celebrities on their covers because of the fact that there are others who look up to them and it could be detrimental to them.

If you are trying to cover up a pimple or fix a weird looking eye, I believe that that should be okay. But then the problem is, where do you draw the line?

For instance: picture 2 is over board. If a woman uploaded the photo on the right to eharmony.com and then the guy runs away from her when they meet in person. She will be crushed. They shouldnt even allow anyone to do this to people, other than fun. And not post it anywhere for anyone to see who wouldnt find it funny either.
There are so many ways that you could draw the line but photoshop can be used in so many good ways. For instance: the Rhein photograph I posted in September, nothing bad came out of those photos. But you then have to realize that all he did was crop out some dog walkers and factory buildings. He didnt improve womens bodies to fool the minds of everyone looking at the photos.


The line is for you to draw.

My Favorite Artwork

My Favorite Artwork

This is by far my favorite artwork of all time.

(I even have a pair of leggings with this design on them.)

The Great Wave was created by Katsushika Hokusai. 

It is a wood block print that was created between 1830 and 1833. 

It was made in part of a series that he was working on entitled the "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji".

The Great Wave off Kanagawa soon became his most famous work and is the most recognized Japanese works of art in the whole world. 

If you look closely at the photo you can see that there are small ships (3) in the sea. 

It is depicting an enormous wave that threatens these ships near Kanagawa. 

The most common misunderstanding of this photo is thinking that the wave was part of a tsunami, in all reality is is just a large wave in the middle of the ocean, all in japanese 'okinami'.

The thing that is not commonly recognized in this photo is Mount Fuji in the background.

In the series, Mount Fuji is always in the background and the foreground depicts a certain condition.

Just a little knowledge session on my favorite piece of work.

<3 Marie

Clothing

I thought I'd mix it up a little bit....
Would the way you dress be considered a way of creating a new artwork everyday?
Women in general spend so much money on clothes (guilty as charged.)
I don't know why we do it but it seems like we are somehow wired to spend large sums of money on clothing and shoes. Especially shoes. The worst part about it is that we never wear 75% of it! But that is besides the point..
Everyday a woman spends anywhere from $60 to over $400 on clothes.
When I think about a topic like this, I only see this:

Andy Warhol Dollar Sign 1982©The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh. Founding Collection, Contribution The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc

It makes you realize how overcome by consumerism that we are. 
As a person, we only make so much money. Everything costs money, but you can never make enough. That's how everyone feels. But if you think about it.... There's so much more to it
You don't need to buy everything. Hence there is a word called Budgeting. If you can buy everything that you want, then you have it made. You really do. 

Let me give you some examples of clothing that cost a lot but are amazing.
And then I'll give you some examples of clothing that costs a little amount but are amazing as well.

ISTA301 Homework Assignment #2

So we had homework assigned to us and its about a collage. I wanted to post it so you could see it and I can share it with anyone who decides to take a look at it. I want to add that none of these pictures I created or painted. I just simply put them all together in a collage.

Whenever I look at this collage, I have so much emotion. I love it so much and its so me. Its pure and feminine with some rustic edges. The main picture in the middle has to be my favorite. The woman with a cat as her "inner soul". Its so beautiful and draws my eyes to the whole painting. and the photos collaged around her are not too extravagant and bright to cancel her out. She is the main center and focal point. Everytime I look at this collage I see something different. And thats crazy for me because I made it.

I want to say I'm overwhelmed but its not the collage that does that to me. But its the fact that I made this amazing piece of work that I am so proud of. Its so gorgeous and pretty for me to look at. I love it. And I dont know how to explain my feelings. Its just gorgeous and I am beyond in love with my collage. It means the world to me and I am so proud with the result of my Homework assignment #2.


-Marie <3

Would Instagram be considered art?

Somedays I do Instagram and I wonder.... Would it be considered art?
To many it could be. Cause art is all the perspective of the person.
So anything that you see on a daily basis can be considered art. As in today, I was walking down the Mall on campus and an organization placed flags all over this section of grass. It says in the midst of them "9 11 NEVER FORGET". That is also art, even if it's not posted and edited on Instagram.
In my other art class, I found an artist that I'm basically in love with now. He did the Kanye West album cover as well, Takashi Murakami. His piece, Tan Tan Bo in 2001 was amazing and I really love it. It is technically considered pop culture art.

Here is a link to a fan page about Takshi Murakami: Takashi Murakami Fan Blog

His art is so different and colorful it makes me feel something. 

When learning in my other art class, we are also learning about Fiona Rae. There are so many artists that my professor for ARE130 talks about. But the only ones that have really caught my eye are these two. They are beautiful and colorful and not your contemporary art. It's so pretty. I'm just in awe.

Here is Fiona Rae's actual page: Fiona Rae's Website

I hope you enjoy looking at this art as much as I do. <3

Pinterest

As I sit here going through Pinterest, I realize that so many things can be considered art. Tattoos, to paints, to food, to your standard definition of art. I can't believe I haven't really opened my eyes to this before. (It's what two art classes in one semester does to you).
Art is truly in the eye of the beholder. I know that is said a lot but I actually mean it. As it says in my "About Me", I'm an animal lover. Like I'm obsessed with animals, especially Pandas. So I tend to find anything with an animal on it a piece of art. You can see so much in an animals eyes. I just relate to that photograph. And if someone were to paint an animal, I'd be amazed if the eyes were done with the same intent that the animals normally have.
Tattoos for instance. Many people believe that they are defacing their own bodies by putting ink on their skin. That can or can not be true depending on the tattoo that they are putting on their body. Again, it is in the eye of the beholder. The only tattoo I could ever get would be a simple, small one because anything more than that would overwhelm by body and look unnatural. There's a lot of factors that go into tattoos.
Hair can also be an art! With all the different colors, styles, cuts, etc. Theres definitely art wherever you look.
Landscaping! Also an art. They turn dirt and rubble into a beautiful, usable space.
I'm pretty sure I could go on and on.
But I'm not going to :)

-Marie

Making Some Progress

Heyy again!

So I’m slowly making some progress with this blog. The assignment isn’t due till the end of the semester but with taking this class and another art class at the U. All I seem to think about lately is Art. And its crazy how art can be seen in so many different ways. My perspective, someone elses perspective. There are so many people who don’t appreciate the art around them. Its really kind of ridiculous.

So today, I added my pinterest link to the sidebar. I made a board specifically for art that I like and I’m hoping that’ll work out to exhibit my tastes. I also added my twitter feed so you can get a little insight into my life. I post a lot of pictures on there from instagram so those might be interesting.

I’m hoping to soon get the layout of this thing down so I can start with my actual posts on art. It’ll just be hard because my iPad doesnt allow me to upload photos onto this website. So, ill have to do it all on my Toshiba.

-Marie