Assignment #2

The print I liked most at the Cannonball Press exhibit was "Pet Snake" by Mike Houstont and Martin Mazorra. The image was of a huge snake with lots and lots of rats around it, and the snake was eating about five rats in one go. The detail was incredible, and the image was recognizable (you could tell it was a snake and rats). Everything flowed together nicely and reminded me a little of a play I once saw called "Wharf Rats".

The only thing I could possibly think of for a message in this print is something about Animal Cruelty, but given the Mission Statement on the home page I highly doubt that could be it.

I felt that the overall image of Cannonball Press was very confusing, jumbled, and rather offensive. They definitely threw the Fine Art in the trash. Some of the prints were really good, and I liked them, but the majority is not something I would go to see even once had I known that's what it was going to be like. I don't enjoy seeing art where kids have nails in their heads or up their noses, and half of the prints were so jumbled with everything that you couldn't even tell what it was supposed to be.

Overall, I felt that the trip into town to see their work was a waste of time. With a mission statement as humorous as that I was expecting more, and was very disappointed with what I saw.

Assignment 3: Andy Goldsworthy

Andy Goldsworthy

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Andy Goldsworthy was born in Cheshire, England in 1956 and he became fasinated with the countryside at an early age. Goldsworthy's art style is Earthworks, and is famous for using what is around him (ice, snow, wood, stones, himself) and hardly any tools to create his art. Because most of his art is meant to be temporary, he takes fine colored pictures before or during his creations demise. Several books of his works have been published as well as a movie called Rivers and Tides.

"I enjoy the freedom of just using my hands and 'found' tools - a sharp stone, the quill of a feather, thorns. I take the opportunities each day offers: if it is snowing, I work with snow, at leaf-fall it will be leaves; a blown-over tree becomes a source of twigs and branches. I stop at a place or pick up a material because I feel that there is something to be discovered. Here is where I can learn." - Andy Goldsworthy

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Bibliography/Sources


"Artist/Naturalist Andy Goldsworthy." Morning Earth Connects & Celebrates Arts & Ecology. N.P., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2011. http://www.morning-earth.org/artistnaturalists/an_goldsworthy.html.

Stewart, Jim. Andy Goldsworthy's Collaborations with Nature. The Zymoglyphic Museum Curator's Web Log: A Peek Behind the Scenes. N.P., 17 June 2006. Web. 27 Feb. 2011 http://www.zymoglyphic.org/blog/2006/06/andy-goldsworthys-collaborations-with.html.

TATUS. "Contemporary Art, Andy GOLDSWORTHY." Explor Art, Gracefield Arts Center Permanent Art Collection. N.P., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2011. http://www.exploreart.co.uk/artistic)_styles_details.asp?ArtistID=33&ArtisticStyleID=6.

liblairian. "Austin Public Library Blog: Andy Goldsworthy." Austin Public Library Blog. N.p., 16 Feb. 2011. Web. 27 Feb. 2011. http://www.austinpubliclibraryblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/andy-goldsworthy.html

All picture credit goes to Andy Goldsworthy and respected websites.

Assignment #1

1) Please summarize in a couple of sentences how Gutenberg influenced not only the renaissance, but the modernization of the western world.

* When Gutenberg invented the printing press he made it so that books and information in general could be spread much faster and cheaper. Text's were not in as much risk of being tampered with now as they were when they were hand copied, and you could print many copies before the metal wore down, as opposed to the wood block splitting after a few uses.

2) Please discuss how you think these advancements continue to influence contemporary art making.

* I beieve that these advancments show that there is no limit to what can be used to creat art. Anything and everything can be used to voice an opinion or evoke an emotion.

3) Thinking about these issues, how does photocopier art relate to the history of the letterpress? How is it similar? How is it different?

* It's similar because it can reproduce and distribute an art piece rapidly and relativly cheaply. It's different because most people in todays world probably are not as impressed with it as the people were way back when. Some critics might not even consider it true art.

4) Briefly do a search for contemporary print work and, after you have found two or three images you like, post them to your blog.

*
redbubble.com, lindastillman.com, stylehive.com

5) Please look up a few of the words you are not sure about the meaning of. Make a list of the words and their definitions on your blog. Please use dictionaries and encyclopedias or other valid sources (they can be online, but not wikipedia or any other such public website) for this exercise.
(www.dictionary.com)
* - Piety: reverence for god or devout fulfillment of religious obligations
- Preeminence: of being superior
- Scholarship: learning; knowledge acquired by study
- Zines: abbrveation for magazine (why couldn't they just type those four other letters?)