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. 

My experience with the Visual essay

Creating the visual essay was in fact an experience I have not done before. Usually I am confined to sitting at a desk with pencil in hand and paper to finish an assignment for English class but I really enjoyed the new aspect of going out and using pictures as words. I thought it was challenging because for my particular project I had to take pictures of Homecoming events which were at certain times at certain days so I had to make sure I was present. Also it was an interesting experiment to play with the angles at which pictures were taken and to test the different lighting. I took some from above standing on a bench, or from the side to also get the designs that are on the side of objects as well. I enjoyed seeing the different types of art in which the students created such as the sculptures of tissue papers (pomp) or from can goods (can-gineering). There were other public art forms like Buzz entertaining people, people’s clothing, and the band parade.  It was great to actually see the different types of art in person instead of merely reading about them in class. It was indeed a neat experience and I am able to show the art instead of describing them with words. After finding the different public art, the next step was to selectively compile the pictures. Because homecoming was a weeklong with events that happened on a timed schedule throughout the week, I decided to organize the pictures in the order of when the events happened. This helped to give my presentation a flow and a connection between the pictures. Finding the theme of the pictures was a journey within itself as well. I knew broadly that my pictures were going to be linked with the homecoming theme but in the beginning I was also going to argue how the artwork displays the traditions and history of Tech. Then about midway I changed it into how public art is effective in displaying current events and letting the public know what is going on. Also, I noticed that I was not the only one taking pictures of the public art displayed. Many people were seen right next to me with their cameras out taking pictures as well. 

Text and Art

From looking at Spy and Counter-spy: let Us Now Praise Famous Men in The Photographic Essay: Four case Studies, we saw how the essay was developed without referencing the pictures that were also in the text as well. The text and pictures were independent of each other. Instead the pictures do not illustrate the text they just are added to it. It just demonstrates how you need to use the text to see inside the picture such as not to merely describe what can already be seen but to lay out to the audience and clarify the background or the significance. So this shows me that for my visual essay I need to explain my pictures more. I plan to talk about the historical background of the objects that the art is portraying like the campanile, the traditions, and the rat cap (displayed). Also I think it is important to explain the theme of the homecoming events this year and how the art shows that. 

Current Events in Art

Public art is a great method to convey statements of current events to the public. These statements could range from social issues that relate to the local area like in the past for example women's rights or political issues. Furthermore, other fields include "art and craft, architecture and environmental design, urban design, landscape design, urban planning, urban history, urban sociology, cultural geography, and cultural policy" (Miles). An example of these social issues is displayed by Diego Rivera who creates murals of the political issues in Mexico. His murals which are painted in frescos pertaining to the Mexican society and display 1910 Revolution that happened in the country. From this, I decided to make my theme for my project on current events and what great timing because one of the biggest events that happens on campus which lasts for a week is homecoming. So I will be showing how art is displayed during homecoming to make everyone aware of the event such as how Rivera’s art conveys the current issues occurring during his time. According to Mirzoeff visuals reconstruct social patterns. I believe the displays set out which is only during homecoming changes the social feelings of the students and gets them excited for the football game!

Theme for Visual Essay

My theme is going to be on the Georgia Tech Homecoming which happened from October 3 to October 9. During this week, there were many events leading up to the football game including pomping, can-gineer, and wreck a window which involved many artistic creations to be made. My visual essay will depict the public art found during homecoming. 

Effective public art

Public art like other types of art has an impact on viewers. Mirzoeff states that”surely for the moment it is not so much what visual culture is, but rather what it can be enabled to do that matters.” This strengthens the fact that public art was designed to reach out to everyday normal people walking in the open environment in order to make a statement to them. A great example of public art that influences people are advertisement like billboards. Above are 2 examples of effective billboards. They are visually attractive to the people that drive by and they make a clear statement such as to buy their product and how their product is so effective. It is also that the clever, creative image sticks into your head so you remember the message of buying the product. This shows how the action of what the image does is the important part. 

Public Art in North Charleston, SC

 We discussed a new type of art in class today which many of us probably did not consciously realize was art despite the fact that we see these everyday but falls into this category: public art. Generally, I think public art is work that is displayed in an open environment which gets some type of message across to the public audience. There is no specific audience in which public art is displayed for. Miles agrees with this because he says there is a “lack of specificity of the public(s) for whom it is intended.” It is for EVERYONE!

                      

In my hometown, Charleston, SC, there is a public park that has sculptures displayed in the middle of the grass throughout the entire park. These sculptures are not confined in a museum but instead are available for locals to view. These are pieces also attract locals to the park as well. It is nice to go to a park to see the natural beauty of the harbor and the sunset but also to see the beauty of what humans can create in an open environment for everyone to enjoy. There in the pictures is a water bottle made of wire and other inventions. It is a unique element that this park has because none of the other parks in Charleston have art displayed so it is a good attracting technique.