Creative Impulse: Small Works - 3 versions of same object (Buddha)

Three versions of the same object. My object was a buddha statue.

Creative Impulse: Readings - Jerry Saltz on the Outsider Art Fair

Readings: “Jerry Saltz on the Outsider Art Fair — and Why There’s No Such Thing As ‘Outsider’ Art”

   In this article Jerry Saltz talks about how so called “outsider artists” should be viewed at the same level as an artist who went to an institution. He goes on to say that just because an artist is professionally trained, it doesn’t mean that they are any better or more worthy of being in a museum than an artist who has not been professionally trained.

   I completely agree wit Saltz’s thoughts and I believe that just because someone went to school doesn’t mean that they are going to be better than someone who hasn’t. Some people are just naturally gifted with the skill of creating amazing art and I don’t think there should be such a division between insider and outsider art. This restrictive idea that outsider art is less than insider art is keeping us from being able to discover and be exposed to different types of art and artists from people who don’t have the chance to be exhibited in big museums, which is sad because there could be some truly amazing artists that aren’t getting any exposure just because they didn’t or couldn’t attend an institution.

Creative Impulse: Readings -The White Bird

Readings: “The White Bird” – John Berger

   In John Berger’s essay he talks about the fact that we just take things from nature and recreate them in a different form and present it as art. He says in his essay “art does not imitate nature, it imitates a creation, sometimes to propose an alternative world, sometimes simplify to amplify, to confirm, to make social the brief hope offered by nature” and I agree with this because art is used as a way to convey new ideas or perceptions of different things. Berger also talks about aesthetic appeal and how it differs with different people and I agree because different people have differing tastes. The places we inhabit and the lives we live and everything around us all has an impact on the way we view things, and art helps us decide what we like and what we don’t like.

   He also talks about the process of making the white bird and how the bird itself does not live up to the same standard of art as a Van Gogh but defends the bird by saying that the process of making the bird is very masterful and worthy of being called an art but the finished product is not actually a work of art. He also mentions the fact that the tradition of the white bird has been spread to different countries and has sort of lost its authenticity and charm, which I feel happens with a lot of things when they are so overproduced.

Creative Impulse: Exercise - Paper Folding

In-Class paper folding exercise

WARP Sample Blog

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

WARP First Post (please title your first blog post the same as this one)

Hi Class, 

Please copy and paste the following text to use as your first blog post. It will also serve as a reference for you when organizing and labeling your blog posts:

Labels Help You Organize

All blog posts must be labeled with two keywords, which blogger calls Labels. When faculty visits your blog for evaluation purposes, we will use the labels to quickly find your work. If you do not use the keywords properly, we will not be able to find your work. Proper set-up and maintenance of your blog falls under the Research and Participation part of your grade which counts for 30% of the overall semester grade. 

Topical Keywords

The first set of keywords correspond to the module we are working in. We will refer to these as topical keywords since they correspond to the topic we are exploring over the two-week periods. Your first group of posts will be labeled under Topic: Creative Impulse since this is the first topic (Topic #1). Here are the topical keywords you will use through out the semester:

Topic: Creative Impulse

Topic: Pattern and Ornament

Topic: Rhinoceros

Topic: Narrative

Topic: Landscape

Topic: Zine

Categorical Keywords

The second set of keywords will organize your posts according to kind. Here are the Keywords you will use for Labels:

Exercises - tag for posts documenting all assigned exercises. The first one will be the paper folding exercise from the first class. 

Readings - tag for posts containing your two paragraph responses to the assigned readings. The first ones will be for "The White Bird" and the Jerry Saltz article from Vulture.com. 

Small Works - tag for posts documenting all assigned small works. The first blog post labeled Small Works will contain images and accompanying descriptions of the three small works you complete for the Creative Impulse Module (Topic #1). 

In-Depth Projects - tag for posts documenting all assigned In-Depth projects. The first blog post labeled In-Depth Projects will contain images (or video if appropriate) and accompanying descriptions of the more robust work you produce in response to the Creative Impulse Module (Topic #1).

Outside Visits - tag for posts containing your two paragraph responses to all required visits outside of the classroom. These include visits we do together as a class [during class time] or individually outside of class time. 

Please be sure to use both a topical and categorical keyword when labeling your posts.

Next Steps

1. After copying and pasting this text into your first blog post, create your labels from the keywords we listed above. In the Edit post window you will find an area titles Labels where you can add your own custom labels to your blog. This is where you will add the keywords we listed above. Please be sure to add all keywords to the Labels window for this first blog post. 

The easiest way to do this is by copying and pasting the following text into the Labels window for this blog post:

Topic: Creative Impulse, Topic: Pattern and Ornament, Topic: Rhinoceros, Topic: Narrative, Topic: Landscape, Topic: Zine, Exercises, Readings, Small Works, In-Depth Projects, Outside Visits

Here's a screen shot of what that looks like, and where to find Labels when editing a post

2. Now you are ready to create and label your first post. This will be the post for your in-class paper folding exercise. 

It should include a photo of your paper exercise and be labeled with the following two keywords: Topic: Creative Impulse, Exercises

3. Once you have complete all the above steps, please email a link to your new blog to me at: lambert.nwsa [at] gmail [dot] com. We will link your blog to the Art Unfolded blog.