VCDB #1: "Dismaland" by Banksy (2015)
Description/Interpretation
The artist known as “Banksy” has created an amusement park in the U.K. that is obviously based off of Disneyland. It features and broke-down castle, sculptures of warped versions of our favorite Disney characters, as well as many more attractions that are skewed from our original perceptions about a wonderful fantasy world like Disneyland. I feel that this art piece is intended to make the viewer feel slightly uncomfortable and make them question where happiness really comes from.
Use in Teaching:
Disney is a corporation that has set a major boundary line between fantasy and reality. Using the ideas from “Dismaland” it could be possible to ask students, what really creates happiness? What is the difference between fantasy and reality, and how closely/distantly are they related? I could possibly even have the students create a well-known fictitious character in a real life setting.
Source:
www.cnn.com/2015/08/20/arts/banksy-dismaland-art-exhibition/
The artist known as “Banksy” has created an amusement park in the U.K. that is obviously based off of Disneyland. It features and broke-down castle, sculptures of warped versions of our favorite Disney characters, as well as many more attractions that are skewed from our original perceptions about a wonderful fantasy world like Disneyland. I feel that this art piece is intended to make the viewer feel slightly uncomfortable and make them question where happiness really comes from.
Use in Teaching:
Disney is a corporation that has set a major boundary line between fantasy and reality. Using the ideas from “Dismaland” it could be possible to ask students, what really creates happiness? What is the difference between fantasy and reality, and how closely/distantly are they related? I could possibly even have the students create a well-known fictitious character in a real life setting.
Source:
www.cnn.com/2015/08/20/arts/banksy-dismaland-art-exhibition/
VCDB #2: "It's Great to be Alive" by Damien Hirst (2002)
Description/Interpretation
This is one of many of Damien Hirst’s mosaic’s that deal with the topic of death. This piece is made of thousands of dead butterfly’s wings that are delicately positioned in patterns that create an amazing mosaic. To me, this reveals the natural beauty and formation that can come from organic materials such as butterfly wings, although he was greatly criticized by many animal rights activists.
Use in Teaching:
By using Damien Hirst’s art, I could teach students about using natural materials to create art. Many objects found in nature can be used to create art that contains repetition and pattern such as leaves, flowers, seeds and of course butterfly wings. Questions that could be asked would we be, “What are some materials that are found in nature? Which of these materials can be identical to one another to create repetition? What colors can be found in materials that exist in nature? I feel that a lesson like this could connect students to the beauty that nature has to offer.
Source:
http://www.damienhirst.com/images/hirstimage/dhs409t_771_0.jpg
This is one of many of Damien Hirst’s mosaic’s that deal with the topic of death. This piece is made of thousands of dead butterfly’s wings that are delicately positioned in patterns that create an amazing mosaic. To me, this reveals the natural beauty and formation that can come from organic materials such as butterfly wings, although he was greatly criticized by many animal rights activists.
Use in Teaching:
By using Damien Hirst’s art, I could teach students about using natural materials to create art. Many objects found in nature can be used to create art that contains repetition and pattern such as leaves, flowers, seeds and of course butterfly wings. Questions that could be asked would we be, “What are some materials that are found in nature? Which of these materials can be identical to one another to create repetition? What colors can be found in materials that exist in nature? I feel that a lesson like this could connect students to the beauty that nature has to offer.
Source:
http://www.damienhirst.com/images/hirstimage/dhs409t_771_0.jpg
VCDB #3: "Oceans of Love Bliss" by Alex Grey
Description/Interpretation
This painting by Alex Grey is one of many that depicts the human anatomy and spirituality. He started his career as a scientific illustrator and created drawings and paintings that were used for medical research. This particular painting from his collection, “Sacred Relationships,” shows the relationship between a man and woman standing in the ocean. They are made up of and surrounded by very intricate and beautiful patterns. To me, it reveals a visual and spiritual interpretation of love between two people.
Use in Teaching:
I have been a major fan of Alex Grey’s work for a while now because of his technical skills and because he represents aspects of life that allow the viewer to become more visually understanding. If I were to use this art as a model for students I would probably ask then to create visual representations of emotions such as happiness, sadness, anger etc. Questions I would ask could be, What emotions have you felt in your own life experiences? What colors could be used to evoke these emotions? What types of lines or shapes can be used to represent different emotions or feelings?
Source:
http://soundcolourvibration.com/2013/05/27/alex-grey-entheon/
This painting by Alex Grey is one of many that depicts the human anatomy and spirituality. He started his career as a scientific illustrator and created drawings and paintings that were used for medical research. This particular painting from his collection, “Sacred Relationships,” shows the relationship between a man and woman standing in the ocean. They are made up of and surrounded by very intricate and beautiful patterns. To me, it reveals a visual and spiritual interpretation of love between two people.
Use in Teaching:
I have been a major fan of Alex Grey’s work for a while now because of his technical skills and because he represents aspects of life that allow the viewer to become more visually understanding. If I were to use this art as a model for students I would probably ask then to create visual representations of emotions such as happiness, sadness, anger etc. Questions I would ask could be, What emotions have you felt in your own life experiences? What colors could be used to evoke these emotions? What types of lines or shapes can be used to represent different emotions or feelings?
Source:
http://soundcolourvibration.com/2013/05/27/alex-grey-entheon/
VCDB #4: "Honey Boo Boo" by Jason Mecier
Description/Interpretation
Jason Mecier is an artist with no formal training that creates mosaic portraits using found and collected materials. This piece is depicting the child star, Honey Boo Boo, who was all over television a few years back. His work is pop art because she was such a popular and recognizable icon. Jason’s work tends to use materials that relate to the subject such as baby doll parts and toy makeup and jewelry. I feel that his work is humorous yet relatable because he so closely represents the pop icon while using materials related to them.
Use in Teaching:
If I were to use examples of Jason Mecier’s work in an art classroom, I would definitely have the students create a mosaic portrait similar to this. The students would chose a particular pop icon and also use found materials that directly related to the subject they were depicting. This lesson would require research by the students to know how to relate their chosen icon to the materials used. Questions to ask the students could be: Who are some current day icons that are seen on TV today? Is this icon used at all in advertisement for specific products? What everyday materials could be used to relate to the subject? While I believe an art lesson like this could be a lot of fun for students, I also feel that it would take a lot of research, time, and dedication to collect the materials used to create a pop art piece such as Jason Mecier’s, “Honey Boo Boo.”
Source:
http://www.workbook.com/blog/tag/pop-art#page=1
Jason Mecier is an artist with no formal training that creates mosaic portraits using found and collected materials. This piece is depicting the child star, Honey Boo Boo, who was all over television a few years back. His work is pop art because she was such a popular and recognizable icon. Jason’s work tends to use materials that relate to the subject such as baby doll parts and toy makeup and jewelry. I feel that his work is humorous yet relatable because he so closely represents the pop icon while using materials related to them.
Use in Teaching:
If I were to use examples of Jason Mecier’s work in an art classroom, I would definitely have the students create a mosaic portrait similar to this. The students would chose a particular pop icon and also use found materials that directly related to the subject they were depicting. This lesson would require research by the students to know how to relate their chosen icon to the materials used. Questions to ask the students could be: Who are some current day icons that are seen on TV today? Is this icon used at all in advertisement for specific products? What everyday materials could be used to relate to the subject? While I believe an art lesson like this could be a lot of fun for students, I also feel that it would take a lot of research, time, and dedication to collect the materials used to create a pop art piece such as Jason Mecier’s, “Honey Boo Boo.”
Source:
http://www.workbook.com/blog/tag/pop-art#page=1
VCDB #5: "Woodstock" by Jim Marshall (1969)
Description/Interpretation
This image is a black and white photograph from Jim Marshall’s series from the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival in 1969. It shows a crowd of people sitting on a hill, while focusing on a man and woman engaging in a dance during a musical performance of the historic music festival. I fell that it depicts the spiritual, emotional, and drug induced feelings of the audience during this time period in U.S. history. The late 1960’s were known as a very radical movement and spiritually uplifting period that was captured through many forms including photography.
Use in Teaching:
Jim Marshall is a famous rock and roll photographer who has captured many historical events in pop culture. From album covers to just being at the right place at the right time, he has documented history with his camera. I could use Marshall’s photographs as examples in teaching how to illustrate iconic periods in time. By using photography or any kind of visual arts, students could depict current activities that relate to present time. I could ask students to come up with current events that they feel are meaningful to them and could be documented or represented through visual arts.
Source:
http://www.jimmarshallphotographyllc.com/
This image is a black and white photograph from Jim Marshall’s series from the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival in 1969. It shows a crowd of people sitting on a hill, while focusing on a man and woman engaging in a dance during a musical performance of the historic music festival. I fell that it depicts the spiritual, emotional, and drug induced feelings of the audience during this time period in U.S. history. The late 1960’s were known as a very radical movement and spiritually uplifting period that was captured through many forms including photography.
Use in Teaching:
Jim Marshall is a famous rock and roll photographer who has captured many historical events in pop culture. From album covers to just being at the right place at the right time, he has documented history with his camera. I could use Marshall’s photographs as examples in teaching how to illustrate iconic periods in time. By using photography or any kind of visual arts, students could depict current activities that relate to present time. I could ask students to come up with current events that they feel are meaningful to them and could be documented or represented through visual arts.
Source:
http://www.jimmarshallphotographyllc.com/
VCDB #6: "Red Square" by Kazimir Malevich (1915)
Description/Interpretation
Here we see a painting of a red square, which is also the title of the piece. Besides it being just a solid red square with a white border, we also see that it is slightly off from being a perfect square. It looks a little tall more like a rectangle and the top right corner looks slightly protruding. I feel that this painting is representing simplicity and is meant to make the viewer question what art is. Given the second part of the title, “Painterly Realism of a Peasant Woman in Two Dimensions,” it has us question that lifestyle and how a basic red square can relate to it.
Use in Teaching:
Using a painting such as this, it is important to ask questions like, “what is art?” “How is this art?” “How is it not?” “What emotions or feelings does a painting like this make you feel?” “What emotions or feelings can different shapes and colors make you feel?” The reason I underlined this painting as non-art is because I googled non-art and this image came up, which made me personally ask these questions to myself. I know now why it’s art. I probably wouldn’t really base a lesson off this but would like to ask these types of questions and show this to students to help them gain a personal understanding of what art means to them.
Source:
http://dismagazine.com/blog/54398/the-history-of-non-art-part-2/
Here we see a painting of a red square, which is also the title of the piece. Besides it being just a solid red square with a white border, we also see that it is slightly off from being a perfect square. It looks a little tall more like a rectangle and the top right corner looks slightly protruding. I feel that this painting is representing simplicity and is meant to make the viewer question what art is. Given the second part of the title, “Painterly Realism of a Peasant Woman in Two Dimensions,” it has us question that lifestyle and how a basic red square can relate to it.
Use in Teaching:
Using a painting such as this, it is important to ask questions like, “what is art?” “How is this art?” “How is it not?” “What emotions or feelings does a painting like this make you feel?” “What emotions or feelings can different shapes and colors make you feel?” The reason I underlined this painting as non-art is because I googled non-art and this image came up, which made me personally ask these questions to myself. I know now why it’s art. I probably wouldn’t really base a lesson off this but would like to ask these types of questions and show this to students to help them gain a personal understanding of what art means to them.
Source:
http://dismagazine.com/blog/54398/the-history-of-non-art-part-2/