Definition: struck with overwhelming shock oramazement; filled with sudden fright or horror.
Origin: 1225-75;Middle English agast frightened, pastparticiple of agasten, equivalent to.
Example: Theystood aghast at the sight of the plane crashing.
Urban Artifact: Phase 3
Here you have one stable and ambiguous figures. It took me a few minutes to do. I was inspired by the subway wall tiles where it’s all perfect and squares. So I wanted to incorporate that for the stable figure as one somewhat perfect square. For the ambiguous, I wanted to break that perfection and make it all distorted while adding new lines and shapes. This phase relates the other phase where we had to take pictures of stable and ambiguous and now we have to sketch it out for more understanding of it.
Ways of Seeing (Role 1)
In the video Ways of Seeing/John Berger, there are many things he points out but they all contribute to one main idea. From 7:00 to 20:00 of the video, the main idea is shown by different points, which is that even though the modernization of viewing art has grown, you can only get the true meaning and experience of art by seeing it with your own eyes. John Berger expresses this by giving you three different ways of how viewing art isn’t as impactful as looking at in person with your own eyes. The three ways are the camera, sound, and movement.
John expresses how the invention of the camera took away the inability to experience looking at art with our own eyes, and also just the value of looking at them in person. “The camera, by making the work of art transmittable, has multiplied its possible meanings and destroyed its unique original meaning. They have lost and gained. The most important thing about the paintings themselves is that their images are silent, still.” (11:16-11:31) So, in this he’s saying how because of a camera and producing duplicates of artwork, for the convenience of people it creates people to believe a painting has way more meanings than what the artist intended, “unique original meaning”. Now at the end of that quote, he talks about a painting being silent. This is where he transitions into sound, and how it affects the viewing of art, and what he’s saying is that you’re meant to look at art silently so you can process everything going on in it. Adding music or sounds while viewing a painting or piece of artwork, makes it feel like you need to feel a certain way about the art because of the tone of how the music or sounds make you feel. From 16:23-16:53 they show a painting of Van Gogh that he did right before killing himself, they show the painting in silence, and then they show the painting with very slow rhythm music. “This meaning is liable to be manipulated and transformed,” (18:48).
So then the final way he talks about the being manipulated so that people can’t experience its true meaning is movement. This more has to do with an actual film camera where you can look at art on television or video. He talks about how camera movement makes the viewer only see what and where the “main point” of the painting. Which excludes the whole experience of looking at the artwork with your own eyes and taking in every detail instead of zooming in on a detail with a camera. “The camera moves in to remove a detail of a painting from the whole,” and, ” You have been waiting impatiently for the camera to go in to examine details” (13:39 & 15:03).
John Berger expresses how there are main things a camera can do to manipulate the ways of seeing art by duplicating, movement, and sound. A camera deletes the human interaction of looking at a painting, original and in silence. The modernization of viewing art made it convenient for people to view art but not experience the true meaning that these artists tried to convey.
Patina
noun
“a surface appearance of something grown beautiful especially with age or use” Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
This word was encountered through “Wind Sand and Stars” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
The sentence the word was used it was “Every machine will gradually take on this patina and lose its identity in its function.”
When the author uses this word he’s trying to say that every machine ages and becomes irrelevant as new technology gets developed. As the machine’s functions get replaced by a better technology people still love the old machines for the purpose they have served at the time that it was first introduced. The author could also be questioning in this sentence why the old is still loved or, trying to argue that humans dislike change even if it’s for the better which is why they choose to admire the old.
Urban Artifacts: Phase 4
Time: 45 minutes
Manhole cover – Star bracelet
I learned that a stable figure can still be interesting with good composition and scale. This project reminds me of a stencil project I did back in high school and detail didn’t matter there. A stable figure is a 30/70 while an ambiguous is almost a 50/50 when it comes to background and figure. What I could have done better was made it more of a solid black until the marker strokes disappeared. I will bring this into my next project by attempting to work slower and more accurate.
Ways of Seeing
My major is Graphic Design/Communication Design, since I was younger I have always been creative with drawing. The way I visualize myself is a very stay to myself, perfectionist, carefree person. I am very passionate about having my camera with me and being able to take pictures of people and other beautiful things. Where I see myself in five to ten years is working and doing what I love creating things that people will like. A statement that I feel that represents me and my goals for college is “ a wolf in a wolf’s skin “ it means someone who’s not afraid to wear their skin or who they are despite anyone’s opinion. I feel like this made me the person I am today and also made me realize to just be myself, also to not change over other people’s opinion, and by doing that I feel it will help me reach my goals in college to do what I want in the future.
My avatar/ profile picture represents me because like I’ve said before I am a very reserved person, some people say I like to be by myself and do my own thing, but when it comes to going to school I’ve always been told that I have this mean, tired look on my face. The emojis surrounding the girls head is basically my many moods that I show a lot. I’m always annoyed when I have to either get up early for school, dealing with siblings or just stressing over little things.
The way I think someone would or will misinterpret my avatar is that they might think that by looking at my profile picture that they may not what to interact with me if they ever see me in the halls or outside of school because I may seem like I don’t want to be bothered or seem like I’m a rude person.
Ways of Seeing [Role 1]
Quotes and timestamps that lead me to the main idea
“The invention of the camera has changed not only what we see, but how we see it” [3:10] Camera’s take pictures that can be reproduced so that everyone can see it instead of needing to be in one place [3:33] The camera made paintings reproducible and even though people say it’s for expanding culture. Because it also tied back to profit and money people who buy these copies might not buy it for its “unique original meaning” [11:18]
“Reproduction of works of art can be used by anyone for their own purposes” [21:10]”because they were really looking and really relating to what they saw to their own experience” [27:42]
“You receive images and meanings which are arranged” [29:12]
What I got from this video in the [20:00~30:00 section] is that art is viewed and explained through many different types of people with different experiences [example with the children] which is why reproduced paintings can be changed in many ways when it comes to the meaning. How the camera chooses certain details in a specific order can tell a story. The camera chooses how you see detail and if it’s zoomed out then you wouldn’t see much detail compared to if you were there in person. He also gives the example of how you can crop an image and change its meaning which causes the intention of the painting to fade. If you see a painting through a camera it’s hard to catch the details unless the painting is zoomed in or the camera pans.
The main idea is that in order to fully experience a painting, you need to be there. The camera changes how you see paintings because you can miss some details or only focus on certain details which changes the entire meaning of the image. If you see other information in text, images or a video before seeing an image it could tell a different story than what is intended to tell. But if you’re there in person to see a painting it would be different because all you’re seeing is the image itself and it’s up to your interpretation without other people manipulating the meaning.
Urban Artifacts: Phase 3
I finished the stable image in class and chose to shrink it and move it more towards the top of the page (I centered it in this image but not on canvas). The way I drew it looks like it could be hanging from somewhere and it looks more interesting to me. This is stable because the background surrounds the object. 30/70 ratio.
I finished inking the other image also in class but had to go over it again at home because my marker was dying. This is clearly ambiguous because compared to the bracelet there is a 50/50 relationship between the background and figure which makes it unclear what the figure is.
The story between the two images is that the bracelet fell into the manhole.
I think this was about the last 45 minutes of class, it took me 5 minutes for the first one because I made it smaller.
Avatar [Revised]
My interest in art began this April 2018. This caused me to begin taking art more seriously as a potential profession or something that I would like to work on and improve gradually. My favorite colors are mint and lime. My rule for myself is to be forgiving to others and to believe in the possibility that anyone can change because they have the free will to do so.
My passion for art takes form as both digital and watercolor style. I like to invest my time in backgrounds and pixel art. I draw with colorful pastel colors to saturated colors depending on my mood. Throughout my years of experiencing various video games, I was inspired to aim to become a concept designer. My goal in five to ten years is to have a portfolio with various art pieces that could be used for game design. Throughout college, I hope to achieve a degree of some sort.
My avatar is a white bird and I chose a bird avatar to represent simplicity because generally it is white and round which is easy to draw and people can easily distinguish that it is a bird. The white color represents purity which reflects me as a person because I always have a pure intention when saying things or doing things and I try my best not to harm others. The idea of being harmless is embedded in this image as a cute small bird.
My icon can be misinterpreted as someone who likes birds. One can misinterpret it as someone who wants to be away from society because birds tend to fly away when people come. A majority of people may misinterpret me as a biology major or aiming for an ornithologist career. My aesthetic in art, however, is generally colorful images that utilize pastel colors. This bird is white and light grey and it falls under a tint which I personally find beautiful. My profile picture could possibly guide people towards what I find interesting when they could assume I draw in a cute style or that I like small animals. The way that the bird is perched on a branch and may seem to be watching your every move might cause people to feel a little unsettling represents me, but I tend to watch people so that I don’t end up confused when everyone else is working.
Overall I hoped this bird would convey that I’m friendly and this matters especially when getting to know people because I don’t want people to automatically assume my personality based on the things I may say or my gestures in class. The first impression always matters, but I tend to always look comfortable in class so people may assume that I might be demotivated or tired. Since I do most of my work on Open lab people will see my icon more than they see me in class because I tend to go straight home after class is over. So I’m hoping that when people see the bird they might think that I’m just there kind of like how the bird is framed in the picture standing on a branch. I want my profile picture to be interpreted as a person that comes and goes, watches what’s going on before going to the next assignment, and flying away.
I expect my avatar to develop as I meet new people who maybe share the same interests as me so I can get more specific with my image. As of now, I’m not that comfortable sharing my interest or rather I don’t have anything I’m specifically interested in which caused me to pick an animal I liked. Hopefully with the updated avatar after a few classes, I would be able to successfully convey my skill in the arts by uploading a picture of a piece I’m really proud of or representing a group that I fit in and am apart of.
Discussing “Ways of Seeing”
To discuss “Ways of Seeing,” and to begin our blogging in earnest, we will attempt a sequence that puts everyone in conversation. The person in Role 1 will write a post (category “Reading Discussion,” tag “Ways of Seeing” Part [1, 2, 3, or 4], plus any other relevant tags) approximately 200-300 words long, in which they consider the assigned video. The people in Role 2 and Role 3 will write a comment that is approximately 200-300 words.
To do so, choose one of the following roles for the first day. You will cycle through all three roles. You are of course welcome to comment additionally!
Here’s where it might seem complicated: follow the due dates for your particular role. I will update this with your initials so you know what to do when.
| Part 1: Role 1, due 9/18: choose a passage or moment from the video and write a POST about it
Part 2: Role 2, due 9/21: In a COMMENT in response to that post, compare that passage or moment and what your classmate wrote about it to another passage or moment in the video |
| Part 1: Role 2, due 9/19: In a COMMENT in response to that post, compare that passage or moment and what your classmate wrote about it to another passage or moment in the video Part 2: Role 3, due 9/22: in a COMMENT in respond to what was written above, making an additional connection to something either in the video or something else we have encountered so far in either course of this Learning Community. Part 3: Role 1, due 9/25: choose a passage or moment from the video and write a POST about it Part 4: TBD |
| Part 1: Role 3, due 9/20: in a COMMENT in respond to what was written above, making an additional connection to something either in the video or something else we have encountered so far in either course of this Learning Community. Part 2: Role 1, due 9/23: choose a passage or moment from the video and write a POST about it Part 3: Role 2, due 9/26 before class: In a COMMENT in response to that post, compare that passage or moment and what your classmate wrote about it to another passage or moment in the video Part 4: TBD |
