Category: 11 AM Class

Unit 1 Summary

Unit 1 was about the pedagogy and power, banking model, and formal analysis. The Banking Model is described as teachers simply passing on an idea to the students. The teachers talk and lecture while the students are quiet and receive the information. I have experienced this type of model many times in high school. Some teachers I had would not care to listen to anything the students had to say. They would think everything that they said was correct. I think this model has more negative aspects rather than positive. You might be able to learn something but it’s not the most effective and long-term method of teaching. I think its very important for teachers to engage and encourage their students to speak up in class. This helps a lot of students learn better. The pedagogical approach to any subject must be important when you want someone to learn. For example, if you’re teaching drawing you shouldn’t just put a fruits basket in front of the students and expect them to know how to draw. You would have to teach them the basics first.

Another thing we learned is formal analysis. Formal analysis is not only describing the art but also showing and understanding what the artist is trying to convey, visually. Everybody has different ways of looking at things so our own interpretation of art will have a play in what we think it means. When focusing on formal analysis, there are some characteristics we use: color, line, space and mass, scale. We also look at the composition of the art. Composition means how the artist combines all these factors in their work of art. We also use the historical context of an artwork. It relates to the things that happen during the time the art was made. It serves to give us a better understanding of the art and show why the artist decided to make this artwork.

It’s very interesting that you can learn so much about an artwork from its historical background. I never knew how to analyze an artwork before but after learning some basics on formal analysis it has become easier. When looking at the Titian Venus of Urbino, I noticed that a lot of warmer colors were used as opposed to cool or neutral colors. Colors like pink and red were used a lot. Another technique that was cool was looking at the way the artist catches your eye from the direction of lines. They guide your eyes intentionally from left to right. I personally thought that was interesting and cool how an artist can make you do that. Also, learning of the historical background of the painting really put it into a perspective of why the art was made.

Blog Post 5: Unit 1 Summary

         In unit one, I learned about formal analysis and about critical pedagogy. I found this topics to be interesting, but I wished we could have discussed critical pedagogy more thoroughly. I learned that the banking model was the idea that teachers know everything and spill their knowledge to the students, whose job is simply to soak it in and remember what was said. This education model takes power from the students and gives it all to the teachers. Paulo Friere, author of Pedagogy and Power, critiques this model by saying that equating it to a form of dehumanization. He even stands for critical pedagogy by saying that “this […] is the great humanistic and historical task of the oppressed [the students]: to liberate themselves and their oppressors [the teachers] as well” (Friere 44). I found this to be a very interesting and motivating idea that will forever have an impact on me.

         When we learned about formal analysis, I had expected it to be about analyzing quotes or books. I did not expect it to be more about how to ‘read’ artwork, nor did I expect that formal analysis is more about looking at a work of art than it is about writing about it. Formal analysis is the act of examining the details of a work of art to interpret its message. One thing I often remember about formal analysis is what you analyze (or, in other words, the elements of formal analysis). The elements include, but are not limited to: line, color, illusion of space, contrast, scale, and medium. The most important part of formal analysis is the goal: “to try to understand what the artist wants to convey visually” (Reinhardt 26). In other words, it is important to figure out what they are trying to show you and why they are doing this.

         Therefore, this is what I learn in unit one of Art History. I learned how to analyze of work of art to determine its message and I learned about oppression in the education system (and how to combat it). This opened my eyes to a new mindset and a new skill I did not have before, so I am interested to see how this will impact both throughout the class and later on in life.

SN: Brooklyn Museum Part 2

Part 2:

William T. Williams, Trane, is an acrylic painting that is rich in color and geometric abstractions. The colors included are red, grey, lavender, dark pink, yellow, navy, dark red, bright red, orange, light green, dark green, brown, brownish-beige, and black. Thin white lines separated every shape as they intertwined with one another. The geometric abstractions show the tension between the colors and forms and tests the limits of the other colors used during the intensive work process. Each shape ends with sharp points, and the colors make the shapes bolder as they fill up most of the paper. The pink shape in the middle seems almost trapped, surrounded by so many other geometrics pointing in different directions. I chose this artwork because the colors were bold, bright and to me, it is screaming a strong message. I thought it was very creative that I wanted to see the artist’s name. When I saw it was William T. Williams, I was surprised because I learned all about Williams in middle school, but I never saw this piece. Trane relates to the rest of the exhibit because each artist was of color and practiced art during 1963-1983, where those artists were able to individually create different kinds of art that reflect upon the movements of the time period. Each artwork tells a strong story and captivates the viewer to want to learn more about it.

SN: Brooklyn Museum Part 1

Part 1:

 

Amunhotep III is made to be seen as an aging man due to the sagging cheeks. The medium of this artwork is wood, gold leaf (seen on the hat and kilt), glass and pigment. The eyes are outlined in a dark grayish-purple color as the eyebrows are outlined with a blackish-purple color. His shoulders are straight and the arms seem to be either cut or never made. His crown is gold and has a lot of definition and texture with a black square and a gold circlular pattern around it. Amunhotep III was made to stand on a wooden base with his left leg more forward than his right, almost like he is taking a step. With his status of King, although his legs were positioned one in front of the other, he was balanced. The kilt has straight vertical lines in the back and different line patterns in the front. In addition, the front of the kilt is shaped differently. In the middle it is in the shape of a rectangle with slits of a right triangle on the left and right sides. On the back, it is shaped almost as a straight line on the bottom back of the kilt. There is a noticeable metal loop on his neck as well. Amunhotep III has more color in his face, specifically a golden brown, than he does on his body, which is a little bit of adarker brown. The statue was not as tall as I expected, but it was three-dimensional and I was able to get a glimpse of all of its characteristics.

 

 

Unit 1 SUMmary

I came into Art History thinking that it was going to be one of those straightforward and factual classes; when it’s actually one of the most ambiguous classes that I have because it’s so heavy on interpretation and not at all what I expected, in a good way. My initial idea was the this class would be really heavy on reading and brushing up on facts about artists and paintings, how they came about, and what they mean or symbolize. And although some of it is, I didn’t think it would be focused on the visual aspect of the art and the history combined.

Two things that we have learned about that are actually manifested in the classroom are critical pedagogy and formal analysis:

 

 

Critical pedagogy (also identified as the Banking Method) is a structure in classrooms in which knowledge is “deposited” (Freire 72) into the students and they sit there passively while the teacher serves as the dominant or authoritative figure in the classroom. I appreciate my class because I feel like this isn’t necessarily the case.The class is very inclusive and student-dependent whether that means letting students lead discussions or letting students decide on a due date. We also all actively participate collectively. Yes, we’re all sitting while Professor Shaw teaches standing but sometimes she even sits with us or makes it feel less pressured of a typical school environment.

Another thing we learned about was Formal Analysis, which is a visual examination of a piece of art. From lines, color, scale, dimension- it’s all used to make something of a visual piece. Formal Analysis is used to get at a bigger meaning of the art, what it may tell us, and how it may affect the viewers that see it. We put this method to use in class everyday during lectures, we use formal analysis collectively along with the professor and establish a significance of the piece of art Professor Shaw introduces to us. Using Formal Analysis helps the class be more open to interpretation as it’s never just black and white. There’s never just one simple answer, and that in turn, requires us to think a lot, actively.

After being in Art History for a couple of weeks now, my initial ideas of the class are now reshaped, as I see- and as ironically as it sounds- that this class, focused on the deeper meaning of things requiring open interpretations, is also very open to interpretation itself.

It’s one thing to learn about something just to recite it later on, but to apply it in class makes it more real.

Unit 1 Summary

Unit 1 in Art History, was actually a refresher for me.  In high school I took a class called Mixed Media where we focused mostly all semester in formal analysis.  Although the class was meant to show how to utilize all kinds of materials and color in an art work, it also showed us how with that mixture we could convey the viewer a message.  That is what formal analysis is, the visual structure the artist uses in order to give a message to their art piece.  The artist decides to use specific lines, colors, shapes, and even material in order for their art to represent and mean something.  They shape their art work with visual structure that allows the person viewing it to analyze it by the specific elements shown.

I remember having to use principles of design and elements of design to describe and understand an art work.  When looking at a painting everything needs to be taken into consideration.  From the materials used, to the color, and the placement of specific objects.  Together everything becomes one in order to help the artist make their message visual to the audience.  Using negative space, positive space, balance, symmetrical or asymmetrical,  it all contributes to the meaning behind the art piece and in this class I began to understand how this even tides down the historical context.  Not only is the visual structure important when trying to see and understand an art work but so is the history behind it.

Depending on the time period an art work was created it can also influence the message one is trying to receive.  Not only using formal analysis is important, but the time period it was created in or the time period it was created to represented is needed to be taken into consideration.  The history behind it can help you understand more why an artist may have chosen to use only black and white or specific shapes or shape sizes.  For example in one of the painting we analyzed in class the king in the painting was at the top register and was the biggest person/ object in the painting.  This was showing hierarchy and each register was used to show the difference in the social classes and different labor being done in each class.  When learning about formal analysis in Unit 1 it refreshed some of the information I had already learned and also made me aware of the historical context and how that also influences the meaning behind the painting.

Lastly, one of the most interesting things I learned in this Unit was about the banking method.  Paulo Freire described the banking model as a method where the teacher uses their power to cut students creativity.  With this method what teachers are doing is “depositing” the information into a students mind but they fail to realize that a student is just holding on to the information to pass their exams.  The students are no longer understanding the information but rather are just remembering it at the moment.  This method of teaching is seen as a way of oppressing the student’s opinions and restricting them from contributing to their own learning.

Unit 1 in Art history has been a refresher to my learning, but has also added to the information I already knew.  It has also taught me new things and made me understand how to correctly “read” an artwork.

Unit 1: Art History Summary

 

Throughout this past month in Art History, the class focus has been strictly direct to the topics of Formal Analysis and Critical Pedagogy. This two concepts are necessary if we want to understand what we see when we look at art and the way we are able to analyze, critique, judge and interpret a work of art. Formal Analysis is describing a work of art and looking for every detail in a work of art; this is to help us analyze the choices an artist has made to create art. When looking at a work of art we must focus our attention every element that is made out of. These elements consist of color, line, scale, composition, space, texture, material and historical context. The last characteristic has more to do with Contextual Analysis which is the outside research about a work of art and although the concept is important we mainly focused on Formal Analysis. This technique helps us, the viewer, to come up with a decent interpretation about a work of art and why it was made the way it was by the artist.

In class we also discussed Critical Pedagogy which is a concept created by Paolo Friere, a Brazilian educational theorist. Friere criticized the education system and the way students and teacher interacted. Friere was against the Banking Model which mainly represents the way that students learn; students brains are empty containers that are filled by the wise and knowledgeable teacher. In this kind of classroom the teacher is in charge and the student is to only sit in class not having opinions about that they are being taught. This prevent the students form making critical thinking about literature. In order to end that system, Friere came up with Critical Pedagogy which is the idea that students and teachers are equal when it comes to learning. The interaction of both teacher to student and student to teacher makes the classroom more balanced. In this way of teaching where the students have an opinion, the goal is to make the students do critical thinking about what they are being taught. In the greater good, critical pedagogy is to help students be more human and not machines when it comes to learning.

In class both of this concepts came together when we would have an opinion about a work of art that the professor put before our eyes. For example we were asked to pay attention to the elements the artist chose in The Standard of Ur. During this activity we discussed how the work of art was hallow, made out of different materials from around the world, and mainly had registers that created a story. In my cases I was able to think critically because my opinions about the work of art were backed up by physical evidence that I gathered using Formal Analysis. From now on I am more aware about what to look for when looking at art. Furthermore I am more conscious about formal analysis when I look at advertisements on the subway.

Comment on Sabrina Novacov’s post

Like in my post, Sabrina’s post explains formal analysis and its components which are the composition, color, line, shape, contrast, texture, and technique. We also agreed on the the function of formal analysis which is to try to understand the artists intentions and what they want to convey in their piece. Unlike my post, Sabrina used colors and clearer organization and made her post very appealing and intriguing. I enjoyed reading her post and look forward to future posts!

Comment on Sairah Sajid (9:30AmClass) Pedagogy and Power post

I found it interesting and very cool that Sairah applied the Banking model to a scenario outside of your typical desk, whiteboard, school scenario. In her Sairah used the banking model to speak on when she used to take karate lessons. I thought this was interesting and I wanted to commend her for it because it only goes to prove how applicable and common this model is, that it exists in many other dimensions in our lives outside of typical classrooms and this can be problematic when the desire for knowledge is interfered by position of authority.

My post was similar to Sairah’s because we both could relate to the positives and negatives that come with this specific model. We both indirectly agreed that the Banking model may lead to more independence and to successful learning skills which is a pro of this model; however something Sairah had mentioned that I didn’t consciously think about was the significance the “position of authority”  has, as they are the ones who choose if you can “move forward” or not. In the scenario of academic school, a lot of teachers can determine some students future simply off a grade, and many teachers can abuse this, and this just shows one case in which the Banking model may not be the best model, for a reason like this.

Thank you for sharing your post, it was interesting to see a different perspective and how it can align to mine. I enjoyed reading it!

My Comment on a Colleague’s Blog Post (My Art Story- Alexis Felicianio)

 

I completely agree with you that art is a way to express yourself depending on what you are going through on a daily basis. Those who create art do it for themselves and for the world to resonate or interpret the work of art on their own. I love the fact that you see make-up in an artistic way and that you wear it with pride and show it off! In my case my form of art is drawing. In my post I expressed that I find art in the human body in general. Therefore I chose this post to comment on because make up is something I actually find artistic too. The reason being is that it takes creativity and time and tools to make the perfect cat-eye or to make the eye-brows to be on fleek. Furthermore whenever I see an interesting body (depends on lots of things eg. attractive, non-attractive, strong, weak, etc) I stare and try to draw it. I know of artists who choose to paint the human body and in my case I have no talent what so ever but I try.