When we say the word “art” we are describing any form of human activity ranging from music to sculptures and paintings. Some of the various forms of art are: music, paintings, dance, architecture, drawing, photography and ceramics.  Individuals connect with a piece of art using their thoughts, emotions, beliefs and ideas. This course has allowed me to find different ways to acknowledge numerous forms of art. Whether it be paintings, sculptures, graffiti, music or architecture artists use different techniques to create a work of art and their work should be recognized. Through this first unit of this class I have learned about formal analysis, pedology and the key aspects that make art significant. Before taking this class, I thought that art was made up of the different paintings and ancient artifacts presented in museums. Now that we’ve finished the first unit I have learned a significant amount about the different ways we analyze art and the different characteristics used by artists to make their artwork impactful. This new analytical way of analyzing has allowed me to recognize the different skills artists use in their work. The different designs and key elements that shapes their work.

Formal Analysis is an assessment of visual elements that construct sculptures or any given art work. It is important to use formal analysis to describe a piece of art work because it pin-points each element illustrated and expresses the meaning of each element. The components of formal analysis are: line, shape and form, space, color. texture. Lines can be horizontal, vertical, diagonal, thick, thin, curved, and thick or thin. These lines allow artists to compose pieces that communicate to the viewer by creating various images using different techniques. Shapes and forms of objects bring life to a two dimensional object and allow viewers to better interpret the work. Space in art brings a two dimensional object to a three dimensional state through a feeling of depth and use of shadowing techniques. The three main characteristics of color are hue (red, blue, green, etc.), value (how light or dark it is) and intensity (how bright or dull it is). Color allows artists to depict emotions or playful meaning through their work. Texture brings surface value to art work. If the art work is two dimensional texture allows artists to illustrate how the object would feel in reality. All of these elements define art work and allow us to fully understand a piece of art work.

Pedology and Power was another topic covered in this Unit. To Freire, the banking model is described as a knowledge holder sharing knowledge to a knowledge receiver without any feedback from the receiver. This is known as the standard classroom model in which a teacher shares his or her knowledge with students as they feed off that given information.  This allows the teachers (knowledge holders) to be empowered because they hold the knowledge that is being given or distributed to the knowledge receivers.