art travel guide website ideas

During class we learned how to use Dreamweaver to make websites of an ongoing project of an art travel guide and there were some really interesting elements that were taught. We are definitely making the website interactive and some of the things I was thinking about using were to use roll over images that reveal answers to questions or to makes parts of images clickable that would take them to a different page to learn more about that image they clicked on. Also we would have maps of where the places are located that way people know where to go to find the art. Our group met for a little while and we got some ideas together as far as theme and which pairs of people do what part. We are definitely taking pictures this weekend so that we have enough time to make the website and write the information. I think the only thing that will be a challenge is trying to implement what we want into our website. 

Guerrilla Girls

We read how there was discrimination against female artists and how they received less pay than their male counterparts. You read about artists in the past and of their great accomplishments but the majority of them were male. This of course is not fair and does not show the entire spectrum at all. There has been in fact many women artists in western history, but they just don’t get named.  I also found it unjust that they were not even allowed to go to art schools or be a part of an art guild either. I found it also offensive that people would think that female work “didn’t meet their ‘impartial’ criteria for ‘quality.’”. Still looking at modern times, even though more art by women have been accepted, it is still not balanced with those of men. Furthermore, there were quotes by men on the sideline of the Guerrilla Girls article that degraded women. The one I found most shocking was “every woman would prefer to be a man, just as every deformed wretch would prefer to be whole and fair, and every idiot and fool would prefer to be learned and wise.” I simply cannot believe those were some of the comments that were being said about women. 

Hanging Paintings

In class we read a piece by O’Doherty in which discusses how paintings are presented. When pictures are framed it creates a “portable window” which transports the viewer into a new place and limits the borders of the painting but hanging a picture takes on a new effect. The frames help to transition a person into the picture. This display influences the interpretation and worth of the piece. There is a relationship with the wall and a painting and hanging deals with the aesthetics of the surface. Easel paintings change its meaning when it is hung. There are aspects that cannot be taken during this move. The painting would lose edge, and the prospect of the canvas. Also museums had to accommodate for the large paintings that are now being hung on walls and ones that are oddly shaped such as those created by Stella. This can be seen at the High Museum how many of the paintings are hung. It causes the paintings to have more of a limitless space because it is a lot bigger than an easel painting. It does not contain the painting as much as the easel painting does. Such as the water lilies painted by Monet(presented in the picture), people have to walk down the wall to see the entirety of the painting.  

Titian Exhibit

I went to the High museum to look at the Titian paintings that were currently displayed and I was more consciously aware of the display of the set up of the paintings. I noticed that the more grand paintings which dealt with similar themes were grouped together. For example the religious devotional ones were framed in gold and put in an open room which all was hung on separate walls. I believed that was because if these grand paintings were all on a different wall, it just put more emphasis on the individual painting. This showed the importance of these paintings where they were placed. Also all of the Diana paintings were put on its own wall on the top floor where natural light is. I felt like that particular placement strengthened how valuable the paintings were. The smaller paintings in the front shared wall space but I felt like that took away from the importance placed on each painting. Also what I noticed which I thought was interesting was that the walls in the Titian exhibit was red and not white like the ones in the contemporary section. I thought that since the paintings were hung that the red color nicely contrasted with the gold frame of the titian paintings and drew them out more to the audience to see. 

The article written by Hein demonstrates the shift of churches as it develops over the decades. At first churches were created to store, preserve, and study the collection but now it has become a more business oriented sector as they grow to appease the public. The museums now define themselves by what the public wants and act to improve human lives by engaging the public to a learning environment as they come to museums. In class, we looked up different museums online to see how the museums try to reach the public and we found some interesting tactics that were common amongst the groups. First of all, all of them had children friendly events and arts and crafts area. There were outreach programs and student outreach. Also, you could add them on facebook and twitter. As you can see, museums have evolved to serve the public and they “exist for the things they put in them.” Furthermore the museums have changed from a “selling” mode where they try to get the public to come see their traditional exhibits to a “marketing” mode where they focused on pleasing the public’s needs. I have experienced this first hand because a lot of museums have interactive events which are more public friendly and do not just restrict to a certain class or mindset of people. The picture displays how the museums have changed to allow people to interact and engage as they also learn at the museums which attract more members.

Museums

     Carol Duncan compared museums as rituals and very church-like. For one, the physical structures are similar because the museums adopted architectures that churches have. They welcome visitors with grand staircases and grand doorways as can tell by the picture of the American Museum of Natural History. Even in the inside, museums are thoughtfully designed to promote thinking and learning. Inside people know not to talk loudly and it is for people to think to themselves and to. Museums help people to escape everyday life. 

     The word “liminality” is used and is connected with rituals but is applied to museums in this article. Similar to rituals, it helps people to see images in a new perspective. Also, people “enact the ritual.” The way the museum is set up including lighting and spaces, that guide visitors through the museum. They play a role as they move through the scripted set. As they look at all the exhibits, museums transforms a person and enlighten them such as a ritual experience. I definitely agree with this in how museums are crafted to teach a person and there is an actual strategic purpose to why exhibits are displayed the way they are. It is definitely a great way to step back from the busy world and enter a new atmosphere which facilitates thought through its design. I experienced this 

Class presentations of Visual Essays

During class we had many presentations of our visual essay on public art that we created which also encompasses a theme relating all of the pictures. I found some of them to be quite interesting including contrasting the styles of new art designs verses the modern art designs, public art that is used and those that are not, cars that stand as public art themselves or how other art can change the feel, art that have similar designs as other countries as well as different cultural art. A lot of pictures were taken in areas confined in Atlanta, GA which is not a bad place because we do have the Centennial Olympic Park with many statues dedicated to the Olympic Games. On the other hand some people had pictures from New York and Colorado. People also chose to take pictures at different angles of the same object to show how seeing the art work in one perspective can limit the viewer all that they can see or they contrasted a picture of an object far away and subsequently followed that picture with a close up view of it to show the details better. Many people demonstrated in their pictures the effect on lighting if it was natural sunlight bouncing off a window or multi-colored lighting on buildings and fountains from light bulbs. Furthermore I found it very interesting that some people posed in their pictures to show interaction with them and how public art is for the public to engage with. The presentations were a great way to see the many pieces of art that I would have missed if people had not shown it to me.