MODULE 4: Art Material Exploration #1: Exploring Value and The Subtractive Color Theory

1. Discuss what you thought about creating the Value Scale and Color Wheel.

Creating the value scale was actually kind of fun. When bored in class I often find myself doing similar things, using small boxes and creating a value scale for fun with pencil. I find interesting when creating the value scale that I always end up several times trying to make the “black” section darker and darker because I never get it right the first time.

The color wheel was actually very exciting. For one it is always fun just to make a mess so being able to do so while observing the relationships of each color to another was really interesting. I ended up spending a good amount of time after finishing the project continuously mixing colors to see what I could create.

2. Which media did you enjoy working with the best and why?

Working with acrylic paint is something that I don’t often do so I enjoyed working with it. I liked mixing the colors and even though I knew what the outcome would be it was still interesting seeing how different colors are related to each other.

3. What was the most important discovery in the creation of these studies?

The most important discovery for me was the relevance of using the proper primary colors. When I worked with magenta and cyan instead of red and blue, I thought the difference would be negligible, but the more I worked with the colors the more I discovered the difference that the colors make.

4. What is the most important information you learned from watching the videos for this project? What is your opinion of the videos?

The most important information I learned from the videos was that red and blue are secondary colors and not primary colors, I’ve been lied to my whole life! It was really interesting seeing the difference made when the true primary colors of magenta yellow and cyan are mixed together and with each other compared to when red and blue are used in place of magenta and cyan. Although initially it doesn’t seem like the colors are not that different, when interacting with each other you can see how much of a difference it makes.

Project #1 Elements and Principles Slideshow: PhotoBucket

For some reason I've been unsuccessful embedding the images here, but there are two active links below to the album with all of the labeled pictures along with descriptions as well as a slideshow view of labeled pictures.

Slideshow link
Album View Link

Module Three - Blog: Color Theory and Emotional Effects

1. Describe Color and it's effects on emotions. Use the appropriate vocabulary of color in your posting.

Color has a strong effect on emotion; color has the power to control our mood or perception of objects. The online module displayed a green Stop sign and a red Go light. Every day we interact with the opposite red Stop sign and green Go light. The module asks “how would you react to seeing these things?” I think it’s obvious that doing this at an intersection would induce chaos. As a culture we have affiliated these colors with an action, emotion, and it has a large effect in every part of our day. We may feel insulted by a blue valentines card, or grossed out by a meal with blue food.

2. What is a theoretical aspect of color that most intrigues/fascinates you? Why?

One aspect of color that grabbed my attention was the example the module used of changing the color of spaghetti. Food is delivered in a large range of colors, but when the picture changed the color of spaghetti with sauce from red to blue, I was disgusted. I really thought about how many foods are blue, and honestly cannot think of any other than candy. I learned that the color blue is used for food suppression which makes a lot of sense when evaluating my reaction to blue spaghetti. I have learned years ago that red is a color that makes people feel hungry, which explains why you see the color red so much in restaurants and grocery stores. In a way I feel insulted that color has so much control over my life!

3. In the Color video, what made the biggest impact on you in regards to color and its effects on emotions?

What I found fascinating in this video is how the artist has a significant amount of control over our emotions and perception of a place that they are painting. If the artists likes the place, they use bright beautiful colors to paint their emotion of happiness in relation to this place. The artist can make us feel the way they do, exaggerating the brightness and beauty of a location. Contrary to this, the artist may have had a bad experience in this place and can use color to make it appear dark, dirty, and unappealing. It may even be the exact same place but the artist can use color to impact our emotions.

4. In the Feelings video, what made the biggest impact on you in regards to color and it's effects on emotions?

In this video, the artists introduced to me the power of color in perception of royalty. This is something I never knew, that there are certain colors that I affiliate with royalty and wealth, and colors affiliated with poverty. This is so fascinating to me because I truly never put thought into how color can make me perceive something like wealth just by using purple and red. 

Module 2 - Aesthetics

1. For each video and article list/discuss the key concepts you learned.

Aesthetics: Philosophy of the Arts:

According to Friedrich Von Schiller, Aesthetics was designed to, "Imbue students' appreciation for and understanding for the arts." Aesthetics is always linked to society as a whole and the foundation for aesthetics was not set until the 18th century in England, with the absence of aesthetics prior to this time. Before aesthetics in art, especially before the 15th century, art and beauty was consumed by love and loyalty to God and religion.  The Neoclassical aesthetics is that of proportion, symmetry, harmony, and order. The 20th century aesthetics focused on innovation and the challenge to distort art in a creative way and today art can be repeated anywhere as a result in advancement in technology and aesthetics will likely take a turn because of it.

Not all philosophers confine to these theories of aesthetics though, some even take a position such as George Dickie's which states art could be anything that the institution of the art world designated as such. Art can take many forms such as music, which Schopenhauer argues is the finest of arts which appeals to figurative and imaginary in meaning.

CARTA: Evolutionary Origins of Art and Aesthetics: Neurobiology, Neurology and Art and Aesthetics

The speakers in this video discuss the brain and science in relation to art. They point out how different cultures have different forms of art because the brain develops differently in different locations. The brain itself has at least thirty areas which are involved with visual processing and certain areas of the brain become excited when interactive with certain qualities in art.  Changeux points out that brain development is the key to art; people’s individual emotions, experiences, and what they have seen changes their perception of art. Changeux listed four definitions to art: distance, language, efficacy, and art history. Ramachandran discusses that each individual is different through scientific findings; art and science meet in the brain. Through this, distortment is seen as beautiful in its own way instead of hideous.

CNN - What the brain draws from: Art and neuroscience

This article goes into detail more on the brain and its perception of art, and neuroesthetics as a field. The article discusses many features of art which art not present in nature, such as lines, or the depth of a shadow, or even the location of a reflection. In nature there are no black lines outlining objects, yet our brains readily recognize shapes or even faces in art made by lines. Two dimensional works of art appear three dimensional by using shadows and contrasts in light that are entirely unnatural yet appeal to certain areas of the brain that allow us to perceive it in three dimensions. Colors that aren’t present can even be shown in works of art as Zeki proved using shadows of red light to make a complementary cyan color appear. The brain is extremely complex and studying works of art allow us to understand the brain better as well, not just the art.

2. Which philosopher's theory on aesthetics do you feel is most important? Be sure to mention the philosophers name, era (time in history), and contribution to the aesthetic theory in your response.

I appreciate Friedrich Von Schiller’s theory on aesthetics that the role of aesthetics is to imbue students appreciation for and understanding of art. Without the appreciation and understanding that aesthetics brings to art, and the qualities that it gives, we remove the meaning and significance of many iconic works. In the 18^th century, Schiller helped understand art and aesthetics and made great contributions to art in education, teaching that understanding aesthetics makes us more human.

3. What do you think about Changeux and Ramachandran scientific view of aesthetics and art? What was the most interesting fact you discovered from each speakers lecture? 

I appreciate Changeux and Ramachandran’s scientific view and approach to art. This view is crucial to understanding art and the human brain and they were able to look in depth into why we are drawn to specific works of art and what qualities draw us to them. I like Ramachandran’s example using an autistic child, a healthy child, and Vincent Van Gogh and their drawing of horses in comparison to eachother to explain how the brain works when creating art, that each artist’s brain chose to see the horse in a different way and focus on different visual cues. I enjoyed Changeux’s relationship of the brain and art. Changeux focused on brain development and that different environments and developments cause the brain to interpret works of art differently and create different types of art.

4. How do the videos and article relate to the readings in the text?

The videos and article seemed to follow along with the book well. The book went in depth about art and aesthetics and what causes us as humans to appreciate art and the different themes. The videos then described aesthetics as well and went into detail about the human brain and brain development and used a scientific approach to analyze art and the brain and their relationship to one another.

5. What is your opinion of the films and article? How do they add depth to understanding of the topics in your reading in the text?

Personally, I enjoy reading and gain a greater understanding of topics by being able to visually study them and re-read important segments. The videos we watched were often so boring I’d have to re-watch the same parts of a video numerous times because I could not get myself to pay attention to it; I spent more energy trying to get myself just to pay attention than I did actually gaining anything from the videos. This aside, though, the information in the videos was interesting and a great compliment to the readings to give more examples and different explanations of these topics. The article, I thought, was extremely interesting and I enjoyed reading the article and comparing the descriptions of lines and faces to compare art to the natural world.