Muesum Project Ryan Bell

When I went to the Fort Worth Museum for Modern Art I honestly just thought that all I would see was some boring paintings(heck, I only chose that museum since it was free on the day that I went). And while granted there were some I didn’t think some of the things that I saw(like a ladder narrowed as it got higher making its own vanishing point and a pile of thousands of individual wrapped candies ). The one piece that stood out to me was Anselm Kiefer’s Book with wings.

Book with wings is a sculpture that can be seen in the round. It is made up of lead, tin, and steel. It seems to be an additive sculpture with an internal frame holding the wings in place. I can only imagine the difficulties of sculpting with lead since it is a weak metal and poisonous (especially since it two years to make).
It is made up of three main shapes. There are two triangles that form the wings and a rectangle that forms the book itself. The balance of the piece is symmetrical. The piece could be split down the middle leaving a page and a wing on each side. This also leads to a symmetrical balance in the piece.
The space the statue takes up is quite large. The wingspan of it is bigger than me. But there is a lot of empty space: below the statue around the base and all along the room since it is the only piece in the room. This to me gives a sense of solidarity. Also the circular room that the statue is in really focuses all of you attention to the piece since it is the only one in the room and since it is in the center of the room.
The room it lit directly above the statue casting the shadow straight down to the floor. This gives that feeling that the book glowing with knowledge or divinity especially if you stand directly in front of it so the light reflects to your face (can see this in the second picture).
Emphasis seems to start in the middle of the book. You can see that this is where most of the reflecting light if coming from. Then the eyes would be drawn outwards to the wings, to the smaller glimmers of light in the cups of the wings, and then down the tips of them.
This statue is made out of lead so the only color is the dull grey. It really goes with the grey of the concrete of the room that it is in, yet stands out because of the light on it. Also the steel stand does stand out a little with its black paint and red rust.
The texture is a very note worthy aspect of this piece. Not only is the texture of the feathers of the wing visible, but the texture of the pages of the book is very detailed. The pages are wrinkled and crunched up to and the cover appears to be weathered down.

Museum Project Savanah Anderson

Museum Assignment The Running Flower by Fernand Leger


The Running Flower by Fernand Leger made in 1952 is an amazing piece of artwork. It is currently at the Kimball art museum in Fort Worth. It travels from different places but is on loan from the Burnett Foundation, to the museum during it's renaissance and love exhibits. The Running Flower is made up of implied lines that create the petals and the center of the flower to show the middle hole missing with in the blue color. It is a volumetric design that is three dimensional. The lines are used to show the area that would represents the petals. The lines show the movement of the Running Flower with the different straight and curved lines, and the different widths of the sides and different lengths and depths. The flower is made as organic, it is drawn from nature. It's placement being outside and the different shapes and sizes of the petals makes it more like nature and that it's not perfect sizing makes it feel less perfect.
It fills the space in a large area, placed outside in it's own environment, the sculpture is larger than a flower is and stands taller than the average adult human. The sculpture interacts with the light in it's setting by pulling the colors from the environment surrounding it. There are many different types of flowers and trees that have the same colors which make the sculpture stand out bright and bold. The different gradations of the colors create depth with in the sculpture. The colors being in the front so the movement, but with the black on some petals helps to show that they are in the back and farther away, the eye seems to avoid the black but at the same time it shows the different dimensions of the flower and portrays movement.
The different color intensities in this sculpture are bright and bold. The hues that the artist used when painting this sculpture make the eye focus on the middle of the flower and the top and bottom with the brightness of the orange and blue colors that stand out.
The natural feeling people receive from flowers is fun and light, kind of joyful. The colors used by the artist still portray the same feelings when looking at the sculpture. The colors are ones that could be found in real life on flowers so the flow isn't interrupted at all. With the use of complimentary colors the flow is actually very coherent. The red with the green and than the blue with the orange, makes the feeling more natural and life like, with the artist use of warms colors. The over all texture of the sculpture is smooth, it is rounded in area's and sharp in others but the patterns made in this form make the appearance more substantial. The balance that is the "Running Flower" is asymmetrical, like stated earlier the eye is drawn to the middle of the sculpture with the eye going down the bright orange and meeting in the middle of the medium.
Fernand Legar, had to have some difficulties when creating this piece with jsut the shear size or the art work. The ceramic is a fairly easy medium to work with but with the piecing together of the different areas, he was bond to come across some problems. However, the medium is strong and solid and seems to have a great durability. The initial piece was all painted white and than later painted over with the colors. The paint is shiny and kind of has a glossy look to it. From pictures of the past to when I saw it the other day it didn't seem to have changed much at all. The art work is beautiful and had to require a mixture both of strength and patience, because the detail and the many attempts that it would have taken to figure out what it would have taken for the medium to stand in the round and not have a base to support it with all that weight on top. The strength part is being able to piece all the different sections together after the carving of the ceramic. I think that it was a little of both process that were used in making this sculpture, subtractive and additive. For the subtractive part it would the carving of the petals and making the different shapes, and for the additive part it would be piecing the different parts together to make the big picture.

Museum Project Jamie Banks

Museum Visit

While at Baylor University for a wedding, I attended the museum. One painting in the museum struck my attention. I assume it was a painting done by a student at the University because there was no name or title next to it. The lack of identification only added to the mystery and tone of the painting itself.
This painting has two focal points. First of all there is the naked woman on the left hand side with black lines encircling her, and then there is a big black door or window on the right hand side. There is a perfect balance between the two focal points, most likely to emphasize the woman being alone on the left hand side. To separate these images, there is a gray line down the middle. Some may argue that this could be a focal point; however I view it more as a separator between the two objects. With the two focal points, the painter uses ovals. The lines that encircle the woman are drawn to create a dark oval around her, and the door (besides being somewhat oval itself) has lines on the outside that further emphasize the shape. The two focal points help show the tone of the painting, which tends to be anxiety and isolation. With the two objects being so far apart with a line in the middle, the loneliness is expressed. Also, the woman is the only object that stands in the middle of the room, all other objects are either on the walls or against the walls. The woman is physically isolated in the room.
The colors used in this painting are also dull colors. The painter uses black, brown, yellow, and some gray. Without splashes of bright color, the painting loses life and possibly signifies the isolation even further. The onlooker sees a woman encircled in dark black lines with only dark colors around her. Warm colors seem to be presented more in the foreground while cool colors are used in the background. This could be used for a visual effect. Also, the fact that all the lines are thick black lines further shows the importance of them in interpreting the painting. They add a tension to the onlooker, and possibly anxiety for what is occurring in the painting. The onlooker now asks why is the woman alone. And why is she naked and alone? The nakedness of the woman shows vulnerability, so further add to the tone of the painting.
The artist does not seem to have needed a steady hand when painting this piece. The objects are not perfectly drawn and are not drawn perfectly to scale. The jaggedness of the objects adds to the mystery and anxiety. The lines themselves seem to be the most chaotic and intense part of the painting, again signifying their importance in the tone. Because of the intensity of the lines, the artist made it clear that the woman is the most important aspect of the painting. Not only is she naked, which draws attention, but she is encircled by the most lines. Even though there are jagged dark lines everywhere in the painting, the artist seemed to elaborate it around the woman. This not only brings more attention to her, it also further emphasizes the isolation of the woman in the room.
The intensity of this painting is what drew my attention. The colors, although dull choice of colors, is done in an intense way to invoke some kind of curiosity from the onlooker. Also, the fact that the painter put so much emphasis on the naked woman really intrigues me and made me want to further analyze the painting.

Museum Project Kari Bailey

Museum Assignment- UTA Gallery: “Time and Space of Books”

The Galleries at UTA increase student’s culture and allows them to see what the students of the art and art history department are capable of doing. The gallery contains contemporary art, and is presented in creative and critical context, including “the creation of new art by regional, national and international artists through residencies, exhibitions, and other programming forums” (galleries).
The artwork that intrigued me was titled “Time and Space of Books” and was designed by a liberal arts fine arts student named Tan Huili. There are many art elements included in the artwork. The line elements were very apparent. It was easy to see the objects clearly defined, and the artwork was divided into seven sections, each with a different image of books. The lines were going in many directions, some straight across, and a lot diagonal. The artist utilized the lines well, because it is easy to see the separation of the seven subsections of the artwork. The shapes that are used in the artwork are all square and rectangular. The sizes of the objects are pretty proportional to each other, although in some of the subsections, the sizes of the books are slightly smaller than other sections.
In this two-dimensional artwork, the artist uses space elements to visually project the art into our space. The area of the artwork where there is an open book overlapping the sections gives this effect. The actually texture of the artwork is smooth like a photograph, but with the space elements giving the effect of a book popping out, I think the there is an implied texture of how a book would feel. The light source in this artwork is artificial. You can see that light is hitting the books, and in one of the sections, the artist used shadows and you can see where light is coming in through blinds.
The most used color in this artwork is grey, but the artist uses red as the main accent. Red is placed a little bit on all of the books in the different sections. The artist uses only about three hues, and it creates a sense of unity among the books.
The artist created a balance in the artwork by creating the different subsections of books, and there is emphasis placed on the book that is open and overlapping each section. All of the sections have their own focal point, but the open book is the main foal point of the entire artwork. The artist created repetition by using red as an accent in each one of the books.
The media and technique the artist used was drawing and it is a two-dimensional object. I believe the artist started to draw everything by hand, but probably used a computer graphic skills to finish editing all the images to make things overlap and to create the different sections. I do not see any limits that this medium could run into except that maybe some people wouldn’t appreciate the art as much since he may have used a computer.

Museum Project Melaine Alvarado

Waco Suspension Bridge

The Waco Suspension Bridge was built in 1870 and originally served as a cattle and pedestrian toll bridge across the Brazos River. It was sold to McLennan County and opened toll-free to the public in 1889. Due to the steady increase in vehicle traffic, the bridge was reconstructed 1913-1914 to assure its stability. Older steel was replaces, trusses added, the cable system replaced, the towers rebuilt, and the roadway reinforced with steel. Today, there are other, more stable traffic bridges and the Suspension Bridge is used as a pedestrian bridge. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and has the status of state marker. Today the structure combines its modern as well as original elements.
Architect Johann August Röbling was limited by the obvious function the structure needed to fulfill. The object obviously had to be three-dimensional. Furthermore, its size and dominating horizontal direction were largely predetermined by the function of the bridge. The span of the bridge is 475 foot. The towers on each side of the river constitute contrasting vertical lines and help create a balanced appearance. While most lines in the structure are straight, the seven cables on each side across the river form a somewhat dynamic symmetric curve that opens to the top. As a variation of this curve, each tower has two prominent arches that open to the bottom. Between the two towers on each side of the river, the cables form a straight diagonal line that is echoed in the line of the slanted roofs on the outer towers. Pattern is created with this adapted repetition of clear, geometric lines. Smaller lines on the towers add detail and help create balance. All shapes are geometric, large, and very symmetrical. While the large size of the horizontal span is predetermined by the span of the Brazos River, the large vertical size of the towers was a choice of the architect and increases the appearance of stability and balance.
Most of the structure consists of empty space to which the horizontal, vertical, and curved lines and shapes build the framework. The structures take up comparatively little space, which emphasizes the width and size of the construction and bestows it with a certain light and effortless appearance.
The way the structure interacts with light and shadow differs greatly depending on the weather and time of the day. Shadows are strongly visible on the light grey color of the towers as well as on the walkway, which emphasizes the geometric angles and the depth of the structure. On sunny days, when the light falls at an angle in the morning or evening, the shadows cast by the trusses and cables create an intricate pattern of geometric lines on the walkway. In addition, a row of light bulbs is attached to the cables on both sides of the bridge that illuminate the structure at night, emphasizing its framing curves. The two towers closest to the river are also illuminated at night.
The bridge is made up of two colors: the grey of the towers, trusses, and cables, and the dark brown of the walkway and the roof on both sides of the towers further away from the river. The colors are fairly uniform throughout the different structures. The grey is very light with low intensity, further suggesting an impression of openness, lightness, and a certain coolness of the heavy and solid structure. The brown is darker and more intense and has a warmer appearance. The two colors create balance and are an example of how the historic and more modern aspects of the bridge are combined. This is further emphasized by the texture of the structure. The smooth texture of the stone towers and steel trusses contrasts with the rough texture of the wooden walkway.
The structure does not have a single focal point. The two towers closest to the river function as focal points due to their height, symmetry, and stability. The outer towers don’t have the same emphasis as they are markedly lower and on the periphery of the structure. In fact from one side of the river the second tower on the other side can easily be missed. Thus, the bridge has three main components: the walkway, the inner pair of towers, and the outer pair of towers. These elements are unified by the symmetry of the structure as well as by its rhythm and pattern that have repeatedly been addressed above.

References:

Texas State Historical Association (2008). Waco Suspension Bridge. The Handbook of
Texas Online. Retrieved March 8, 2009 at http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/WW/rtw1.html

Texas State Historical Association (2009). The Waco Suspension Bridge. Texas
Almanac. Retrieved March 8, 2009 at http://www.texasalmanac.com/history/highlights/waco/