Initial Reflection

    During art class this year I have learned so much. Art class always takes the daily stress away from school and it has been really fun just being able to be 'free' in this class. The past two terms I have learned many important rules about art and some things about myself. I can do more than just draw and I like feedback on my work. In my old school we never really had much class time to draw or do something for our selves that we can keep, except with clay. So if I drew a picture out of class and showed my art teacher she wouldn't really seem to care, she mostly wanted us to do crafts for the school store. Which really got boring after a while!
    Some of the more difficult things that we have had to do in class, I think, would be the group projects. It is hard to decide on one thing and agree on it, especially with a larger group. Once we do decide on something it gets easier from there. 
    What I can 'take home' from art class is the knowledge. This sound kind of cheesy but I really can, I have learned a lot this year and I can't look at art the same way as I did before. Art has been really great and I'm sad to see it end!

Art 21 Reflection #1

     The first little skit was of Eleanor Antin. She was a photographer who liked to take pictures of the past such as ancient Rome. She also like taking fun pictures of objects in different terrains. The Roman pictures were great, I thought this was a great skit because I love ancient Rome and Greek culture. She wanted people to get a feeling of what it was like in the past compared to now. Some of the other photos that Antin took were of 100 boots. She took many picture of boots 'waking' around the corner or to church. They were amusing, funny, and random pictures.
     She was a also dancer and really didn't think much of it but she thought it was a funny skill to have.

     The Second artist was a cartoonist who used words in his paintings to describe his pictures. He also made the scariest and creepiest things funny. Raymond Pettibon used poems, sentences from books, or his own writings. His pictures were kind of creepy most of the time so I didn't really like his work, but I did find it interesting how he would combine writing and painting. Some of the painting that I did like were of his trains. The trains had a lot of feeling to them and you could really come up with a story to go behind it.

      The third painter was Elizabeth Murray. She did these wacky, humorous, out of control paintings. She had all these shapes that wouldn't naturally be see together but she some how made them connect. When she made her paintings Elizabeth would first cut out shape then she would blend in colors, even the paint out, and do some wacky things to the paintings. The shapes were meant to build contrast especially when she added bright color to them, but in the end all the shapes ended up blending together. Murray would use other peoples criticism and art work to help with making her paintings (As we do in art class). She pained because she felt free and just had fun doing it.

      The fourth artist was a very peculiar artist. Walton Ford did painting and prints. He used animals in his work but he used them in a interesting way. For prints he wanted to make them look antique, just like Audibon's prints. But he made the animals (mostly birds) do weird stuff like attacking each other or doing something violent. He also puts them in odd places, It is kind of what we are doing in art class this weak. We are making a clay sculpture of an animal where you would think you woudn't usually see it .
     At first when you look at the painting you think: Wow it's beautiful! Then when you look close at it you see that something is wrong or out of place. Although most of the painting are somewhat creepy they are also pretty neat at the same time. 

Symbolic Clay Sculpture Portrait

     For the Symbolic Clay Sculpture Portrait I am going to do my paternal grandfather. He lives at his house alone and has some medical troubles. My dad has some problems with taking care of him and has a home health-aid come take care of him. He is weak and can't take care of himself do that is why I chose a fish in the desert because the fish is sad and can't really do anything, it is helpless in the desert. The fish is in the desert because you wouldn't really think of a fish in the desert.

Symbolic Portrait

     For the Symbolic Portrait I am going to do my Grandmother Miyuki. (Or as I call her Mimi) she is a very important figure in my life because she took care of me all of my life and is a parent figure to me.
      Her full name is Miyuki Joko, before she was married, and now it is Miyuki Joko Goodrich. She was born in Japan and lived there until she was about 20, (she is 100% Japanese). The war changed her life in good ways and bad; during the war she applied to a nursing school. Around a hundred people in her village applied but she was the only one who got in. While she was in nursing school she learned how to take care of wounded solders and regular patients. Some of her patients were children that had injuries from the nuclear bombs. (Flash burns and radiation exposure) One time while she was taking care of a child she patted their head affectionately but their skin on his scalp came off. She was mortified.
     When she was in nursing school she had a dream that her father came to her dorm and wished her good luck and goodbye. A few days later she got a note from her mother that her father had died, on the same day she had the dream. Soon after her father died her mother died as well as her brother. Her sister now had to take care of Mimi and their younger brother.
     Good things came to my Grandmother too, she met my Grandfather (John Goodrich or Jack) at a play. He was there because he was in the marines around the time the war was over. When she went to the play with her friends she hadn't a place to sit. My Grandfather, who was sitting up front where all of the 'whites' had to sit, gave her his seat. After the war was done they got married but since my Grandfather was American her brother wanted her to leave Japan. Jack and Mimi went to America where she met Jacks' family and where she started their new life.
     My Mom was born on October 27, 1961 than I was born February 26, 1996. My Grandmother has been living with us (my Mom, Stepfather, and me) where we hope she can stay for a long time.

I have asked my Grandmother to tell me a few stories of her life here are some facts and stories:

• She hates peas and beans now because that what she mostly had during the war.
• When the nuclear bombs were dropping she had no way to communicate with her sister. She hoped on a train and had no idea where she was going when an old woman came up to her and said to get off at the next stop where her sister and her brother would be. Mimi had no idea who this person was but she listened to her and got off the next stop where she met her brother and her sister.
• When she was little (Before the war started) she went to the beach with her family. She didn't like to swim so she was just sitting on the beach but her brother (Who thought he was a macho-man) said he could go under the net that was blocking the swimming area from the jelly-fish: man-of war. He crossed the line and got stung by a bunch of jelly fish. He fainted but someone rescued him. He was fine but it was a lesson to be learned.
• She one time told her brother (Who was younger than she and more gullible) when he was eating water melon, that if you swallowed the seeds (Which he was doing) that a vine will start to grow out of your nose, ears, and mouth. Her brother started to cry and she got in trouble. 
• She also told the same brother to lean against a tree and close his eyes. When he opened his eyes he was tied against the tree, where Mimi, again, got in trouble. 
• Her family was some-what rich and had a maid.
• Her husband, my Grandfather died when I was seven.

The Figure 5 In Gold

     The Figure 5 In Gold was created by Charles Demuth, in 1628. He used oil on cardboard and was created based on the poem "The Great Figure" written by William Carlos Williams.

Among the rain
and lights
I saw the figure 5
in gold
on a red
fire truck
moving
tense
unheeded
to gong clangs
siren howls
and wheels rumbling
through the dark city

Anistials down at bottom: W.C.W. (Poets) It was also a modern painting with no people and abstract shapes. Also there aren't any people instead there are names.

Visiting artist: Hamlett Dobbins.

     My favorite piece of work was the early morning paintings. His work is very original, and odd. (Odd in a good way) and the painting that I chose goes smoothly with "Morning Painting" because he uses bright colors that to me would represent morning.
     A question I would like to ask his is how he comes up with his ideas. When I did get to ask Hamlet he said he gets his ideas from every day life/experiences, movies, books, food, other pieces of art, his children, and just random idea that pops into his head.

Reflecting on group work

     Working with other people in the mural project is hard: we have to compromise on one idea, and when we don't we have to start our process all over again. It can get some-what frustrating. Also when you think someone is doing something wrong it is hard to complain to them because then you seem selfish. We have fun though and are trying our best not to get each other angry and that's what counts!