Blog Post #10

By watching tv, going to museums, walking through the city, going to a performing arts high school, and by having friends who create art I have been surrounded by art all my life. I never really understood art or looked at art for more than its aesthetic value. This class has helped me understand more of art's meanings. The class started off with teaching how to describe the visual parts of art. By learning about the visual elements like line, shape, value, color, texture, and pattern I could begin to describe art more clearly to others and myself. Then I learned about figurative art. How artists depict bodies and their meaning in the art. These were things I had never bothered to think about before. When the class moved on to talk about "selfies" the class had to make their own art. For that assignment I understood art more than before and how to make art with meaning. My "selfie" self-portrait was a picture of my room to show certain things about me. I cleaned my room so people would think I'm tidy and I positioned the objects in the picture. I understood the decisions I was making and what meaning I wanted to give the piece while I was making it. Through this class I have understood more about how art is made and for what purpose it serves.