Prepped to Paint

I have indeed been keeping up with doing art, though it hasn't been everyday.  However, I now have my drawing mapped out onto my canvas and am just waiting for some painting supplies from Utretch to show up in the mail soon!  I am very excited!  Sorry about not posting pictures yet, there's just not much to see so far. But, I promise pictures will come!  My reference pictures is this one:

Like it?

What have you been working on lately?

Critical Analysis - Canadida Hofer's Scuola Grande Arciconfraternita di San Rocco Venezia

Note from the author: I wrote this in college for an art criticism class.  I have cited my references and hope you will always do that same.  Copyright infringement is NO good.  If you click on the images it will take you to the website I took them from.  Also, please do not use this as your own paper.  Cheating is NO good.

Scuola Grande Arciconfraternita di San Rocco Venezia

            Candida Höfer’s five by seven foot photograph Scuola Grande Arciconfraternita di San Rocco Venezia captures much more than a spectacular shot of an ornate guild hall.  As part of her exhibit Architecture of Absense, this present day museum is empty, allowing the viewer to take in the design and sculpture of the surrounding walls as well as the emptiness of the space.  With grand, rich details this hall makes a statement about the classics.  Jacopo Tintoretto, Vecellio Tiziano, and Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, famous Venetian painters, created the magnificent frescoes that cover the walls.  The marble colonnades and architectural detail date back to early Greek influences.  Through the art’s religious, historical, and artistic qualities, Höfer’s photograph compels the viewer into action.

            Tintoretto, the main artist, completed more than fifty religious frescoes in the hall, hoping to create a spiritual and beautiful touch to the Scuola Grande Arciconfraternita di San Rocco Venezia, or Confraternity of St. Roch.  The confraternity was a lay brotherhood of worship and charity.  Tintoretto, having worked on the frescoes for more than twenty years, provided the confraternity with publicity.  Soon, the confraternity became a shrine to the artist and continues to be unto this day.  Tourists travel to this place to admire Tintoretto’s work and remember the brotherhood who once served in the confraternity.  Value is laid on history and setting of the artwork.  But, perhaps of more importance, is the message trying to be displayed.

When Tintoretto created his frescoes, they were religious in nature.  For centuries frescoes, mosaics, and stain glass were created to inform the average person of religious matter because most could not read or did not possess their own bible.  Portrayed subjects would include the creation of Adam and Eve, biblical stories, the Madonna (or Mary, the mother of Jesus), Jesus’ life and ministry, and also saints of the church.  The artwork’s intent was to educate and create a spiritual connection to the viewer.

            Captured in Höfer’s photograph is the message of worship.  The artwork is religious and leaves a religious, spiritual feeling.  But the grandeur of the artwork receives more focus than the other religious aspects.  The lines of the photographs—created by the walls, ceiling, and floor—point to the central statue of Christ on the cross.  But, unlike the illiterate public of the past, modern people know about Christ and other religious stories.  The artwork does not inform in today’s world; it simply relates the viewer to the time of the artists and their skill. The rich details, humanistic portrayals, and Roman and Greek influences emphasize beauty and idealism.

            Greek influence is definitely prevalent in the Parthenon architectural columns on the back wall.  They also serve as frames for other works of art but they are art themselves.  The tall columns emphasize the power and dominance of Greek culture.  It is Greek culture that all of Western civilization is based.  Roman, Gothic, Renaissance, Medieval, and Baroque periods all learned from Greek philosophy, literature, and art.  Ancient Greece formed the foundation for which all of the following civilizations were built upon.  The three separate columns could represent the trinity of God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost.  The sculpture in the center of columns also appears to emerging from within the columns in agreement with emerging from Greece. 

            The modern items in the room like the lights and chairs do not distract from the richness of the room but add to its message.  There are two different lighting fixtures in the room.  One set of fixtures are in the Gothic tradition.  They are caged luminescence shapes.  They look like lanterns and aid the viewer’s eye to the room’s details.  They seem to blend into the background and become part of the architecture.  However, the other set of light fixtures are more modern.  They are bowls of up-cast light that can be viewed as the dishes that once contained the Olympic fire, an event dating back to Ancient Greece.  These lights also aid the eye upward towards the detailed and ornate ceiling design.  The light on the back wall plays a huge role in highlighting the dramatic artwork behind it, giving it more motion and interest.  The viewer can’t help but be drawn to it.  The person depicted on the wall is reaching for the heavens.  It evokes a strong religious feeling.  The lights help reunite different times of Western history—Greek and Gothic—yet they work together to create a lighting aesthetic that draws one’s eyes upward to the art and heaven, emphasizing the artist’s intent.

            The chairs stand out the most in this historical room.  Though the red of the chairs echoes the red paint on the walls, the style of the chairs is what makes them distracting.  The chairs are simple movie director chairs.  They lack decoration and do not have a connection to the past.  So what do these chairs say about the room or the people who visit it?  Why place chairs there at all?  The museum did not place plushy, comfortable, period-aged chairs in this room for a reason.  The art is meant to be looked at closely and appreciatively.  One is not able to look at all the works around them correctly from sitting in a chair.  Different lighting and angles make a difference on how one perceives a piece of art.  Often it is necessary to take in the larger picture. 

Upon closer inspection of the chairs, you will find a backpack and even shadowed figures with crossed legs and books upon their knees.  These ghost-like people are sitting in this room full of wondrous artwork, design, and architecture.  They sit down to ponder the majesty of it all.  But, director’s chairs are not the most comfortable furniture to sit on for extended periods of time. The director’s chairs push the visitors into motion by their lack of comfort. These chairs are often used by movie directors, who make decisions based on their “vision” for the movie they are creating.  Like these directors, the viewers of the hall, who sit in these chairs, form their own decisions and opinions of the artwork based on their personal tastes.  The chairs, the one element that has least to do with the historical context of the room, are the one item that is pushing the viewer into the room, into the past.  This room is not a place to come, relax, and read a good book.  This is a museum, a monument to an incredible past, a past that has shaped our present civilization.  Should not the visitor come to the museum to connect with the past and to gain something from the experience?

            A little off to the left of the center of the photograph there is this ghost-like entity, perhaps representing a group of people who were once in that area looking at the wall but that have moved on.  But, maybe the entity represents the spirits of all who have worked so hard to create art, sculpture, architecture, and a civil society.  The effects they had are still living on and touching the lives of modern day people.  It could be related to the spirit of Elijah.  It turns the hearts of the people to their forefathers, the founders of Western Civilization. 

            Scuola Grande Arciconfraternita di San Rocco Venezia by Candida Höfer is an excellent portrayal of the grand past.  Though her use of lines and light she creates a vibrant feel to the room.  Aspects within it—modern lights and chairs—add to the movement.  The uncomfortable chairs make the visitors rise to their feet and look around and the light makes the eye travel heavenward.  The people, who are vaguely viewed in the photo, are misty and ghost-like.  The room, though old and historic, lives and breathes never leaving a person the same.

Is Photography Manipulation Ethical?

Note from the author: I wrote this in college for an advanced art history course.  I have cited my references and hope you will always do the same.  Copyright infringement is NOT good.  If you click on the images it will take you to the website I took them from.  Also, please do not use this as your own paper.  Cheating is NOT good. Thank you.

Is Photographic Manipulation Ethical?

By Katelyn Fagan

            Much controversy has risen in the last several decades about the issue of photographic manipulation.  Though photo manipulation has been around for over a century, in the recent decades advances in science, technology, and digital imaging have made photographic manipulation much quicker, easier, and more common.  But the question that now arises is if photographic manipulation is ethical or not.  Is it right to change a photograph?  But what are ethics?  Jaksa and Priteward defined ethics as “how we live our lives; what is right and wrong, fair or unfair, caring or uncaring, good or bad, responsible or irresponsible, and the like” (Wakefield).  So is taking a picture or multiple pictures and adding, detracting, enhancing, or minimizing something ethical?  As we explore both sides of this debate, we will see that there are strong arguments to both sides, but I believe that changing a photograph is ethical.

            Since photography came into being, people have begun to experiment with this new medium.  Cropping and placing images together, brightening, darkening, and changing colors have always been part of the experimenting.  The new technology of today diminishes time and costs, all the while multiplying the visual strategies available to artists, photographers, and designers. So what is the big deal about manipulating photos?  Manipulating photographs was and continues to be ethical. 

            Most Americans have a camera in their homes as well as a basic editing program on their computer.  At home one can remove red eyes, crop, brighten, darken, and do fun artistic effect to a photo.  A skilled editor can even use Photoshop to place people in exotic backgrounds, edit out acne and other blemishes, and place things where they do not belong in order to be funny.  But why should changing a picture be unethical just because it does not capture reality?  Artists and painters throughout the centuries have practiced this same technique.  A painter selects what vantage point to take and what items to include.

            Digitally editing photos has also helped with illustrators, film editors, and advertisers.  Photo manipulation during film production can save time and money.  Film crews can film a night scene during the day.  They can add in drops of rain and lightning bolts instead of waiting for the perfect storm.  Photo editing allows movies to have special effects.  Without photo manipulation, Frodo Baggins and the rest of the hobbits on the movie The Lord of the Rings would not have appeared short.

            Advertising can also be greatly enhanced with photo manipulation.  Products can be added to photos, as well as backgrounds, and all sorts of visual imagery can combine to create the appealing ads we see today.  Using photo editing processes, advertisers can have clear, artistic images that help to emphasize the product being sold.  Selling a product and advertising are both very ethical practices.

            Even though there are many benefits of photo editing, there is much alarm and concern to be understood about it as well.  Photo manipulation gives way to unethical practices.  It has the possibility of corruption, misleading information, lies, deception, fraud, and plagiarism.  Any unwanted information in a photo can be erased or modified, and wanted information can be added in.  This can lead to faulty evidence in court cases.  This can also lead to false news photos and stories.  An example of this comes from the recent movie Spider-man 3.  A photographer faked a photo of Spider-man robbing a bank in order to get a staff job.  American citizens do not like to be lied to, especially when it comes to their news.  False news photos are unethical.  False photos on the cover of newspapers and magazines can cause much controversy from the lies it portrays. 

Artistically, photo manipulation can be unethical.  The straightforwardness of photography is lost.  What is real anymore?  One used to be able to take a snapshot, a Polaroid, and let the picture speak for itself, imperfections and all.  It was up to the photographer to edit and frame and try to figure out what he wanted to capture at the time the photograph was taken.  Anytime a photographer is behind the lens, he’s choosing where he’s standing, what vantage point he’s taking, how he’s cropping what he sees even as he sees it (Abrams).  Now with manipulated photos possible with every single photo, it can be hard to distinguish between the original, unhampered photos and the edited, manipulated photos.

 It has become very popular, especially in women’s magazines, to perfect or correct physical flaws.  The bodies of Hollywood stars and supermodels now become sculptured, curvier, leaner, and blemish and cellulose free, creating the “ideal” image of a human body. It is this kind of photo manipulation that is very harmful to society.  It is unethical to have these fake female role models for young girls to emulate.  It has also lead to false assumptions of what a woman should be.  Exposure to pictures of thin-ideal female members of the media has been shown to reduce body satisfaction in women, which in turn has led to various eating disorders (Lin and Kulik, 117).  In fact findings indicate that after being exposed to exceptionally attractive female images, males report less satisfaction for a current relationship, rate average-looking females as less attractive, and express less affection for their significant other (Yuko).

            Though there are some strong arguments pointing to photo manipulation as unethical, I believe that overall photography manipulation is just fine.  Manipulating an image only becomes unethical when it affects a group of people.  For example, false news releases would be unethical, an edited model is unethical, and false and misleading photos are unethical, unless specifically designated that it has been tampered with.  When done in the wrong context, photo editing is wrong.  But, I am an artist and a photographer.  Digital manipulation is commonplace for me, just as it is for millions of others.  There is nothing wrong with removing red eyes, lightening up a dark picture, or cropping it down.  In general it can be said “it is all right to adjust the brightness or color balance of the whole photo, but not to obscure, move or introduce an element in order to present false information, remove information, etc.” (Wade).

Sources:

Abrams, Janet. "Little Photoshop of Horrors: the Ethics of Manipulating." Print Nov.-

Dec. 1995. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Brigham Young University. 9 Apr. 2008 <Https://Www.Lib.Byu.Edu/Cgi-Bin/Remoteauth.Pl?Url=Http://Search.Ebscohost.Com/Login.Aspx?Direct=True&Db=Aph&AN=9609205279&Site=Ehost-Live&Scope=Site>.

Lin, L F., and J A. Kulik. "Social Comparison and Women's Body Satisfaction." BASIC

AND APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 24 (2002): 115-123. 10 Apr. 2008 <www.thompson.com>.

Wade, Nicholas. "It May Look Authentic; Here's How to Tell It Isn't." The New York

Times (Jan 24, 2006): F1(L). Academic OneFile. Gale. Brigham Young University - Utah. 9 Apr. 2008  <http://find.galegroup.com.erl.lib.byu.edu/itx/start.do?prodId=AONE>.

Wakefield, Robert. "Focus on Ethics." Brigham Young University. Communications

            Lecture. Joseph Fielding Smith Building, Utah. 8 Apr. 2008.

Yuko. Media Exposure and Males' Evaluation of the Appearance of Females. Diss. Univ.

of South Florida, 2007. 10 Apr. 2008 <https://www.lib.byu.edu/cgi-bin/remoteauth.pl?url=http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1320951691&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=9338&RQT=309&VName=PQD>.

A Musical Piece

I am currently working on a commission for a family at church and am very excited about it! They gave me the theme of "classical music," telling me that their daughters play a violin and cello, as well as piano. So, I looked around for some ideas, and decided to do a sweet piece with 6 6"x6" charcoal drawings, using the same techniques I used on my maternity drawings. I wanted to show you some of the pictures I took that I have to choose from to include in the piece. What do you think?

The Cello:

The Violin:

The Piano:

Unfortunately my reference photos for the piano haven't been very good, so I still need to take some more, give myself some more options. I find that taking my own photos eliminates any need to obtain permission or copyright, plus it's a ton of fun! I am not much of a photographer so it's a slight gamble, but well worth it in the end.

First Semester of Art

This last year has marked my very first year in the art program at BYU. Most of the classes are pretty basic or just introductory classes. To be honest I don't feel like anyone of these works are too impressive, so I'll just show you some of the best from this year, including spring term.

Drawing
This was a project and not an exercise so I chose to have some fun and make this oval shape. It's all done with thicker and thinner lines, no shading. The assignment was "surveillance."

2-D Design
In 2-D Design we had to learn how to represent things graphically. So the left is just organic lines, the center colored geometric shapes, and right a contour or negative shape of a tree.
This was my favorite piece from 2-D design and maybe the year. I combined collage clippings with regular and stippling shading. This is like Josh's favorite piece too. Plus, I used the Rule of 3rds.

3-D Design

I gave the earrings I made for this class to one of my best friends, MaryDawn, who was my Freshman roommate. She definitely rocks the copper plating and CD pieced earrings.
If you have come to our home you are sure to have seen this. I hot glued together some playing cards in a sort of carousel. The sculpture is created of repeated planar units.
Also on display in our home is this piece, my first experience at welding. I felt like a blacksmith as I used a forge and hammer and anvil to create this piece out of steel. It's supposed to be a simplified Nike Shox. I had fun making it.

Intro to Photography
Night picture, and I let the image blur.
This is a high key image... meaning everything is white. It's our fridge.
This one is complementary colors (red and green).

Lithography Fundamentals
This was my first print I made in this class, and I did for Josh, and his dad. It's a Ferrari 250 TR. This was done with litho crayon on aluminum plate.
I thought this would look cool as a print, cause it makes them look kinda old. This was a transfer print.
I took the print and add a wash to it. Cool huh?
This was my final project. Finally color! But, it was wicked hard and didn't turn out too well. But, it was a fun idea.

Painting Fundamentals
These first two are exercises. We learned how to paint grasille (black and white values) and then how to glaze over them. So I painted a little landscape and then put a yellow and a red glaze over it, just to practice the idea.
I did the same thing here too, except for the weird brownish red little painting. That was an alla prima (all at once/first) painting.
This was my final project. I painting the really nice clock we got for our wedding because it has the colors red and gold in it already. I painted it grasille first, then did a yellow glaze, then a red, and finally a black glaze. I think it turned out pretty well for my first painting done in such a way.