Reviewing Peer Response to Artwork

Review of Christopher Sanon's Blog

Project #1

http://sanonsart.blogspot.com/2017/09/width480-height360-srchttps32.html

The images in Christopher's Blog posting from Project #1 as a whole, were very well done. I particularly like how he used self-portraits to represent many of the Elements of Art and Principles of Design, for example image 2/14 is a black & white photo of Christopher representing 'Value'. I wish I had thought of incorporating myself or my family members in my photos! Photographing a sign with different colored fonts, emphasizing certain words, to represent 'Emphasis', image 10/14, was another excellent and unique representation. Christopher is obviously a confidant and innovative photographer, and I appreciate seeing how another student approaches the same project that I worked on. The only thing I would have done differently, and it's very minor, for image 7/14 which represents 'Space', I would have slightly adjusted the photo so all of the paintings were level. I would like to read what Christopher's thought process was for Project #1, but I only see a posting with his link to Photobucket, there wasn't a 'reflection journal' connected to this Blog post.

Project #2

Images from the Sugar Hill Children's Museum of Art & Storytelling

http://sanonsart.blogspot.com/2017/09/blog-post.html 

I have never been to the Sugar Hill Children's Museum of Art & Storytelling, but after seeing Christopher's images on his Blog, I am definitely intrigued and would love to visit with my children when we travel to NYC with them, someday in the future. Christopher is a talented photographer, and I believe all the images were taken by him. My Blog was about my visit to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery and although I took my DSLR camera, I found that the images on the gallery's website looked much better than mine, so I used those. It's great to get children (and adults!) to visit an art gallery when they are young. There is a misconception that art galleries are only to be 'quietly' enjoyed by upper middle class educated adults, but this is not true. Art is for EVERYONE of all ages, genders, classes and ethnicity. Seeing the often colorful, conversation-provoking images that Christopher has selected, it is easy to see that this artwork is for all to enjoy.

Response and Reflections on Artwork at the

Sugar Hill Children's Museum of Art & Storytelling

http://sanonsart.blogspot.com/2017/09/a.html

Christopher's responses and reflections on the artwork he chose to showcase from the Sugar Hill Children's Museum of Art & Storytelling are insightful and well thought-out. He even had a chance to speak with on of the artist's whose work he admired, which added to the insight he gained about the art on display. Christopher is passionate about art for children, the one piece he chose to reflect on has colored chalk available for kids so their drawings and doodles could be part of the installation. I visited the Albright-Knox Art Gallery with my daughter's Kindergarten class several years ago, I was a chaperone. I had to repeat myself over and over tho the kids to back away from the artwork and to keep their hands to themselves. It's nice to see a gallery that embraces a child's natural curiosity to 'get close' and touch something that interests them. There should be more galleries that, if not the entire gallery, but at least a room, is dedicated to children, a room where they can get their hands on the art!

Review of Robin Powers' Blog

Project #1

http://ourbiochemicalperceptionsofart.blogspot.com/2017/09/project-1-elements-and-principles.html

I love that Robin has chosen to use all of her own artwork to showcase the Visual Elements of Art and the Principles of Design. It not only gave her a chance to 'self-analyze', it also gives the rest of us a glimpse of her unique artistic style. I agree that Photobucket has way too many ads, but it is my understanding that if you upgrade to a paid account the ads disappear. There are 21 images in Robin's slide show, we only needed to showcase the 7 Visual Elements of Art and 7 Principles of Design, and some were duplicates. None were labeled with which 'Element' or 'Principle' they are meant to represent. This is confusing because oftentimes an image can represent more than one 'Element' or 'Principle'.  An easy remedy would be to just go back to Photobucket, delete extra image copies, and add titles for clarification. I am confident that Robin understands the different 'Elements' and 'Principles' from what I read in her reflection journal, and it's so nice to see her use her work as examples!

Project #2

Images from the Albright-Knox Art Gallery

https://ourbiochemicalperceptionsofart.blogspot.com/2017/09/project-one-visit-to-albright-knox.html

For Project #2, (Robing mistakenly called this Project #1 on her Blog) one of the works we both chose was Victor Vasarely's painting Vega-Nor, oil on canvas, 78 3/4" x 78 3/4", 1969. I'm sure that many are drawn to that work for the same reasons that Robin and I were; it is extremely large and creates an incredible optical illusion. The installation piece that she chose by Dan Flavon, Untitled (to Donna) 6 , blue pink and yellow fluorescent lights, 1971 is a simple design, but the use of colored lights gives the empty space an illusion of depth - I don't remember seeing this work when I visited the gallery, but I wish I had! Robin seems to have a special interest, like many of us do, in the Shark Girl series of works by Casey Riordan Miller. She relates to these works in her reflections on a deeply personal level. I have to applaud Robin for taking her own pictures; I did also but was unhappy with the results (without my flash) so I chose to use the images from the Albright-Knox Art Gallery.

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It's been great to read the comments on my Blog so far; Riley Thomas appreciated the time and effort I took in 'staging' the images for Project #1. It actually took me a long time to create the uniform look I was after - I cropped each photo to be the same size, and I carefully labeled everything, and my finished result seems to be appreciated! Lindsay Kotas understands my point of view regarding Mark Rothko's work Orange and Yellow, oil on canvas, 91" x 71", 1956. Despite the simple technique, color palette and composition, it still has merit in that it invokes a feeling or an emotion from the viewer. Since this is an on-line class we don't sit in a room twice a week and 'get to know' one another. In this class our Blog and our discussions are the 'face' we present to our instructor and to our classmates. It is so important to express our ideas and thoughts succinctly, and also to proof-read before we publish. I have a tendency to read what I write over and over and over; I still make mistakes, but I know that I have taken the time to do my best to get things down correctly. It's enjoyable to see how other classmates have set up their Blogs, it gives me ideas on what I can improve upon, and it also makes me see the perspective of someone else's point of view.