Art Museum Visit - Kara Crouch

When visiting the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, The Ark by Melissa Miller impressively caught my attention. Miller painted this piece in 1986 using oils on linen. It is a large painting, vividly filling two canvases. Though the pictures included are blurry, I will evaluate such features of the work as line, shape, space, lighting, and color which are best appreciated when seen in person. I will also consider the basic art principles of balance, rhythm, and emphasis while recognizing the technique and details of the painting itself.
Many lines, both actual and implied, are utilized in The Ark. The clouds and the horizon line create a fundamental horizontal line throughout the work, while the vertical lines of the oncoming storm create balance in the background. The positions of the animals imply several lines such as the standing horse and lion facing the left of the painting, directing the viewers’ attention to the approaching storm. The lines created by the flying birds draws attention toward the dark, cloudy sky. The combination of vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines creates a sense of chaos, which the artist also expresses through the animals faces and body language.
Miller painted organic shapes to represent the animals in their true life form. With the varying shapes and sizes of the different species, again a feeling of chaos is present; however a sense of unity is also created because all of these different animals are together during this critical time. For the most part the animals are presented in the foreground, with a few animals, such as the elephants, in the middle ground. Miller likely placed the larger elephants farther back as to not overpower the painting with their size. Likewise, she painted the smaller lizards, birds, and turtles in the foreground to emphasize their presence among the larger animals.
The Ark comprises very little negative space. The frantic animals fill the foreground, while the brewing storm makes up the dreary background. Depth of the painting is created by the layering of the animals and particularly the owls in the sky flying toward the audience. The blank sandy areas in the foreground balance the busy space filled by the animals, while a few breaks in the clouds ease the looming appearance of the storm.
The source of light in Miller’s painting is implied. The viewer does not actually see the sun because the dark clouds are blocking it; the breaks in the clouds are a light orange color, implying the presence of the sun. The natural sunlight is also breaking through the falling rain on the left side of the painting. Shadows are created by indistinguishable shapes of dark gray on the ground. The shadows are muddled because the animals are so close together.
The dominant colors in the painting are earthy greens, browns and grays, but white, blue and orange are also included. The colors are warm, dark, and dreary to create a sense of fear and danger approaching the animals. Miller utilizes complementary colors to create the different hues of orange-browns and gray-greens because when the opposite colors are mixed, dull colors are created. Atmospheric perspective is recognizable in the bluish-gray of the background, while the foreground colors of the animals are much brighter and prominent. However, the overall painting is quite dark, with little balance provided by the white birds and lighter-colored animals.
It is easy to recognize balance in this painting because a central line separates the two panels. The light of the left panel is created by the rainfall and the white furs and feathers, while the light of the right panel is balanced by the white flying birds, and the upright, lighter-colored horse and lion. The left and right sides are also balanced as the clouds evenly carry across the entire span of the painting.
The focal point of The Ark is the standing horse. It stands out as the largest animal in the painting, and it is lightly colored compared to the dark clouds and other animals. It is an important focal point because it points the viewers’ attention to the rainfall coming toward the animals.
The rhythm of the clouds along the skyline and the falling rain below them creates unity across the painting, while depicting the intense danger and fear of the situation. The pairs of animals (repetition) also represent unity and strength among the animals during their crisis.
Melissa Miller’s The Ark is a two-dimensional painting using oils on linen, which combined makes for a very unforgiving canvas. I would assume the linen soaks up the oily paint rather quickly, making it hard for Miller to correct any mistakes. The lines and colors create distinct differences in the objects, but the texture creates the same flat, cloth-like appearance throughout. From further away the painting looks smooth, but closer up, the texture of the painted cloth canvas is visible. Being painted just 23 years ago, I imagine The Ark looks very much the same today as it did in 1986.

Art Museum Visit - Mona Davila

On my trip to the museum I chose to write about Santa Gertrudis (Saint Gertrude), an oil canvas painted in 1763 by Miguel Cabrera a Mexican artist. Saint Gertrude the Great was a German nun who was a great writer and is known for her Spiritual Exercises, where she interprets the Seven Sacraments.

Lines are used in this painting. There are wavy lines around Saint Gertrude’s heard to emphasis the lovingness in the Saints face. There is also a curved line that draws your eye from her face to the Sacred Heart. This line is in red rather than the yellow used around the Saints head. I believe the color change was used so that the eye would follow the line to the heart. The other lines are those that outline the book. There is also an implied line or a psychological line. The Saint is looking down at the book. The lines do have an expressive quality. The eyes are drawn from the face to the book.
There is a glow that shapes the back of the Saints head. On the right side of her there is a feather that curves around the Saints head that allows that gives the illusion of a bigger proportionate glow around the face. I believe the beautiful shaping around the background of the head gives the Saint a glow that indicates her being a holy figure.
There is not any negative or empty space in the painting. The figure of the Saint appears to be our size and does not dwarf us. The artist creates depth by layering her hand on top of the book and by doing this her hand reflects a shadow.
The light source in this painting is implied there is not a visual source of light. I would have to say that the lighting around the head of the Saint is artificial because it is a glow. The shadows created by the light seem to be true to life. The artist depicts the shadow of the hand on the book.
Black and white are the dominate colors used in this painting. The painting is that of a nun and black and white would be normal colors used, but the glow that is depicted intensifies the brightness of the Saint. The artist does use the complimentary color of red.
The texture on the surface of the objects appears to be smooth. There is balance in the painting. The light combined with the shape of objects seem to allow your eyes to follow a smooth flow. Immediately the eyes are drawn to the glow around the Saint Gertrude’s face. The second area of interest is the Sacred Heart. The artist creates interest by continuing the glow around the head to the heart. There does not appear to be rhythm by repetition in the painting.
This was an oil painting. It appeared to by shiny. I can’t imagine that it has changed much since it was first painted. It still appears to be bright in color. It is a beautiful painting. It captures the beauty and purity of Saint Gertrude.

Art Museum Visit - Justin Coleman

For my museum visit, I decided to go to the local Arlington Museum of Art. I had never been there before, but had heard that they featured many nice pieces of art. Luckily while browsing their collection, I stumbled across a piece, “Untitled”, by Kelsey White which really caught my attention.
I believe the thing that really made this piece stand out to me are the lines and shapes used throughout the composition. The painter uses small and large circles and a number of varying lines to portray the image. The varying thickness and length of the lines mixed with the changing size of the circles keeps the painting from every feeling ‘boring’. The thing I liked most about this picture is that it can be two different things in my mind. Some people might see some very abstract flowers from a top down perspective while others might see eyeballs. I can see both and I spent a lot of time trying to figure out which one I felt was the intended result. To me, depending on which interpretation I go by, the circular shapes can be either beautiful - flowers, or grotesque - eyeballs. These geometric shapes are clearly meant to be the focus of the painting and the source of discussion around the painting. They are very intentional indeed.
At the same time that the painter is drawing you in with a number of lines and geometric shapes, she is also creating a very claustrophobic painting. There is hardly any negative or empty space in the painting. But by painting it in the way that she did, she made it project out in an almost three-dimensional way. Some of the circles appear to be coming out at you. She also uses colors a great amount in this painting. We see many contemporary colors; everything from light and dark blues to oranges, reds, greens, yellows and blacks. I believe this painting was made with light-hearted intentions because of the fact that she did choose to use very bright, brilliant colors. The only darker color used is black and its main purpose is to serve as outlines to the many shapes. Interestingly though, the painter used many lines, shapes and colors but apparently chose to forego any implied light source in the picture. It is purely bright because of the bright colors contained within it. There is no one point at which light seems to be strongest or weakest.
The balance in this painting seems to be an all-over type of balance. It feels balanced not because their are two equal halves, but because the whole canvas is dominated by shapes and lines. As for emphasis, your eye tends to be drawn first to the near center of the canvas. This is likely because the largest circles lay in this general area. There are also some of the brighter colors, yellow, orange and pink in this vicinity. Circles are the item most frequently repeated in this painting. The rhythm doesn’t seem to be in any pattern, but does create a decorative ornamentation and act as a unifying source.
The painter seems to have used oil-based paints for this piece and it doesn’t seem to have affected her stylistic choices much, if at all. She varied her line thicknesses, drew large and small circles and used a wide variety of colors. In person, this piece was extremely shiny, which likely lead to my eye constantly coming back to it. And because this is such a recent piece, the paints had not had time to fade and were likely as brilliant and vibrant as the day she painted them.

Art Museum Visit - Caitlin Dack

For my museum visit, I went to the Modern in Ft. Worth. I did the tour, walked the whole place and the thing that caught my attention was Richard Serra’s Vortex, 2002. This 67’ tall, 230 ton, twisted, curved steel structure was constructed using 2’’X10’ slabs and has a 10’ aperture at the top.

It is by far, the most interesting sculpture I have ever seen. It is interactive, and acoustic, and natural and gigantic. Upon approaching, you notice the vertical lines created by the steel plates balancing and leaning on each other. This giant column only gets bigger the closer you get, and as you enter through one of the two triangle-shaped openings formed by a gap between two plates, you find yourself in this round room with a huge opening 67 feet above you; it almost feels like you’re in a hole beneath ground level. Light enters the Vortex through the aperture at the top and through the ‘entrances’. As you walk around inside the Vortex, you hear every sound echoing instantly. Every step, cough, whisper and clap is reciprocated as if you were inside a giant bell. You quickly become a part of this work of art, forming rhythms and songs by banging on the sides and stomping on the ground and clapping and shouting and celebrating the day.
The way the steel tower looks so natural with its many curves, its rusty-colored earthy velour and rough texture make it look as if it grew there. Yet, Serra did this with very thick metal, warping and taming it to reflect his idea. I can’t even imagine the struggle that gave him; or the amount of math it involved. All the panels balance on each other for structural strength and sturdiness, not to mention how huge each panel is. Serra had to choreograph a team of helpers, cranes and ladders to plan it out, and a whole other group of people to help him get it there.
When the final product was revealed, it was just as Serra imagined it would be. Also, while planning the Vortex, Serra put some focus into making his newest idea congruent with the Modern art museum; not in size, but in emphasis. ‘The sculpture towers twenty-seven feet higher than the Museum’s rooftop. Its pronounced vertically is a center point to the horizontal presentation of the Modern’s architecture’ (Visitor’s Guide, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth), calling as much attention to its surroundings as it is to itself.
I would say the emphasis of the sculpture is interaction. Vortex is amazing even to look at, but a huge part of the beauty of it is feeling it and going inside and looking up and making harmony through noise while inside it. Vortex also brings out the inner-child of its visitors; upon my investigation of the structure, I felt the need to need to sit down and bang on the ground with all four of my limbs, which caused a lot of noise and a lot of strange glances from people who weren’t confident enough to do it themselves. Also, at that particular time of day the sun light warmed the panel opposite one of the openings and warmed the whole room along with it. There was a cool breeze outside, but you wouldn’t know it until you left the sculpture. And like I said, this was the most interesting sculpture I have ever seen.

Art Museum Visit - William DuBose

For my museum visit I looked at the “Traveling Man” in the Deep Ellum area of downtown Dallas. I choose this piece because I had the pleasure of watching it be constructed every day and watching something of this magnitude come together was a great experience.
The outlines that I notice are the sharp outlines of the body and the head when looking from a certain angle. I don’t believe that the lines were used to orient the viewer to look in a certain direction but rather just clearly define a body shape. The lines in the piece do not lean towards being thin or thick due to the piece being a sculpture in the round. The lines used in the piece were very curved and flexible. The artist used the smaller birds to pull the whole piece together. The body was emphasized to a great effect and the legs and arms were made very long to create a lively feel to the piece. From what I can tell there are relatively few implied lines used in the piece. One implied line is the way the man is looking at the bird in his hand.
The majority of the shapes represented if not all are volumetric in shape. All of the pieces are of an organic origin. The walking man seems in a joyful mood and is displayed by his stride and facial expression. In relation to space the object is a full eye view. There is a lot to take in when viewing all that is involved in the workplace. When standing directly below the object you do feel dwarfed.
Since the object is outside the only light that is used during daylight is sunlight. This does not create a focal point for the viewer automatically. At night, however, there are lights that focus on certain portions of the art piece and display it with an upward facing light. This will make the object feel bigger than it really is. The artist uses only the grays of the steel on this art piece. This creates a very simplistic look and does not complicate the art piece. The only portions of the art piece that contain color are the lava stones beneath the sculpture. The gray structure is calming to the viewer. The majority of the texture of the sculpture is smooth. The steel panels that were used were polished to give more of a glossy look. There are potions that are rough near the meeting points of the panels and where the rivet bolt heads stick out. The legs and the arms both carry the smooth and somewhat ribbed features with using the rings to build the legs and arms.
There is a lot of balance in the object. First, it is proportional to a life-like object. The bird in the hand in relation to the man is proportionate. The straight and curvy lines on the walking man represent an eclectic and fun style while the bird the smooth lines and curves represent a relaxed and calming feel. My eyes were first drawn to the unique head. This was due to the way it looks so real but also incorporates many artistic touches as well. My eyes were next drawn to the bird on the hand. It then draws the viewer down to the base and the various items on the ground. There are many places for each of the viewers to look.
The only repeated elements that I see in the sculpture are the birds that surround the main walking man as well as the one that he is holding. Also, circles are used a lot in the art piece. The eyes are formed by cutting holes through the headpiece as well as ears that are in a circular shape. The legs and arms retain the circle aspect. I believe that the use of this repetition unifies the piece rather than try to grab it together. They are well placed in the piece and have a purpose. Also, the rivets create an outline of a human like shape. All the patterns used are subtle but also stand out on their own. The object that is created is three-dimensional. The small birds that surround the walking man are proportional in size. There should not have been too many limitations to using steel panels as the medium. The box structures for the body are a lot thicker than the limbs to create a realistic look much like a human.
The sculpture is in the round, meaning that it can be viewed from any angle. The challenges that were presented to the artist were how to make a stride of an object look so artistic. The object was created by adding panels and building upwards, an additive process. The tools used to create the object were steel polished panels and bolts. There was also many grinding and polishing tools used to complete the structure. I would call this object greater than life-size, standing a massive 40 feet tall.
I believe that the “traveling man” represents the livelihood and the traveling to the arts district of the Dallas area. There are some artistic and music aspects mixed in with the design. This sculpture was designed by a graphics design company and many of their personal touches were placed in the design. The structure is made entirely of polished steel. This gives the structure a glow that really highlights the features at night. The panels are held together by rivets. It is a very welcoming structure. Numerous bridal pictures have already been taken on or near the walking man.

Paragone Reflection

The Warhol group had a really decent discussion about Leonardo’s Paragone.

After spending a week as sculptors and painters, each member of this group found further understanding about what it’s like to do that for a project, or once in a while; most couldn’t even fathom chiseling away at precious, expensive marble and revealing the beautiful, smooth, David or creating a work of art as detailed as The Last Supper. Overall, we found that it was useful to have that experience and take a few steps in the shoes of famous artists of the past.

Based on several of the group members’ responses, no one found one type of art superior over another. It was unanimous among the group that arguing that painters are superior over sculptors was incongruent to Leonardo’s later, stronger, statement about both being equal and found that to be the weakest part of his discussion. We found that the strongest part of the sculptors reply was just that he was concise. He said what he meant without putting judgment or digression against painters, but he could’ve said a little more.

Standing in the Shoes - Justin Coleman

For my Standing in the Shoes project I was supposed to be mimicking Michelangelo. He was a great artist who worked by carving and shaping marble into majestic pieces of art. When you view some of his work it is impressive, but you give no thought to how hard it was to accomplish his feats. This project helped put things into perspective. I was merely supposed to carve something out of soap. How hard could that be? Being a typography fanatic, I chose to carve a word into my bar(s) of soap. This was an extremely difficult and tedious task. I used numerous tools including a large pocket knife, a smaller butter knife, a toothpick and staples to clear out the wholes of my letters. I ruined numerous pieces of soap because I was carving them too thin and breaking them in my hands. Once I did get something that resembled the word ‘hope’ I was extremely proud. And I have now gained a much greater respect for Michelangelo because carving soap and marble have no comparison. He truly was a master.

Standing in the Shoes - Logan de Freitas

In my submission, "Route 66," the vanishing point is at the horizon. The difference between the foreground and the background is evidenced by the proximity of the cactus to the proximity of the "Route 66" sign. Aerial perspective is demonstrated by the elevation from the ground in the sketch.

Standing in the Shoes - Mona Davila

I began thinking this project would be easy, but after destroying a few bars of soap I thought I could replicate some candles that I have that are in the shape of Martini glasses. I liked the shape and thought I could get the curves to carve out easily. I used a knife, spoon and chop sticks. It was a lot harder than I thought. The bar of soap became slippery if I held it too long. On the first bar of soap a piece fell off and could not be stuck back on so I had to start again with a new bar of soap. As you can see I still didn’t get close to it.

These are large candles in the shape of martini glasses. This is what I was trying to accomplish.

Standing in the Shoes - Caitlin Dack

Everyone, meet Sweet Pea. I carved her out of a green tea scented, 1 ½ X 1 ½ in bar of soap. Technically, this would be Sweet Pea version 3.0. I had to try a few times, using different kinds of soap. I carved her with a small pocket knife. I chose to make an elephant simply because I like them. Being so large in stature, they fascinate me with their grace and elegance; also, one of my first memories involved elephants. I was at a circus once when I was about 7 and an elephant named sugar picked me up with her trunk and put me on her back. For some reason, I wasn’t scared. I didn’t even scream. I suppose it was peaceful or something.

Standing in the Shoes - William DuBose

For my sculpture I decided to carve a boat out of a bar of soap. Through the whole process I would take off a small amount of soap with a sharp knife. The key to carving is to be precise in what needs to be taken off. This is due to the fact that once it is taken off it cannot be added again. Making the lines smooth around the whole hull was difficult because of both an unsteady hand and the medium wanting to peel more off than needed. Another difficult task was to make the object as symetrical as possible. Michelangelo had amazing talents in all of these difficult abilities. The legs of "David" are smooth and all the small features of the human body are matched to almost a lifelike appearance. Getting into the small places was diffucult due to only having a single carving piece. I had to maintain the image in my mind of what the final piece should look like. This can be difficult with a starting piece that is an oval or even a block. I now have a new respect for Michelangelo for being able to do this task with a medium as unforgiving as marble.

Standing in the Shoes - Kara Crouch

Above is a two-point perspective drawing. The first vanishing point is immediately to the left of the biggest (closest) tree along the horizon line. The second vanishing point is on the right side of the drawing at the end of the road, below the smallest set of clouds, also along the horizon line. Atmospheric perspective is illustrated through the blue hue of the objects furthest away. For example, the three trees get darker and bluer as they approach the vanishing point on the right. The sky and the clouds on the right side of the page are also a much darker blue near the vanishing point than they are on the left side of the page, which appear closest to the viewer. The hills also show the atmospheric perspective in that the left hills are a lighter green than the darker, bluer hills near the vanishing point on the right. The sky above the hills is also a darker blue. The houses and the trees are instrumental in showing how objects in the foreground (closer) are bigger than those in the background (further away). The tree furthest to the left is much bigger than the one furthest to the right (closer to the vanishing point). The house on the left is bigger than the house on the right; the features of the right house (windows, doors, bricks, etc.) also appear smaller because they are closer to the right vanishing point. The hills in the background are particularly useful. They not only show that as an object approaches the vanishing point, it gets smaller, but the hills also illustrate the background behind the houses. In real life, the hills are much larger than the houses, but they appear smaller in the drawing because they are far away. Most lines go toward the right vanishing point. The left vanishing point was used to create the sides and roofs of the houses; it was also used to create the horizontal lines of the sidewalks leading up to the houses.