Video Review

Key points from the video: Glass and Ceramics:

• ·        Glass is made from sand, through a heating process and a chemical reaction. Sand is one of the earth’s most abundant sources making glass extremely accessible.
• ·        When molten hot glass can be shaped and formed by an artist with tools or by blowing through a hollow rod. The process involved heating and cooling the glass to make it moldable and stronger.
• ·        Glass can be made safer through the process of tempering or laminating, most of the glass we surround ourselves with today is safety glass.
• ·        Glass is a growing form of architecture. It holds a complete range of functions including heat and cold insulation.
• ·        Stained glass tells a story; its outcome depends on the beauty of its surrounding light but is an intensively tedious and time consuming process.
• ·        Ceramics are made from clay, this is also involves a heating process. Ceramics can be handmade or mass produced with cry pressing.
• ·        Glaze can give glass color and finish.
• ·        Ceramics have a wide range of functions from medical to mechanical because of its strength and ability to withstand extremely high temperatures.

Key points from the video: Through the Eyes of a Sculptor:

• ·        The art of sculpting can be tedious, complicated, and labor intensive work taking up to years to complete.
• ·        Different stones produce different outcomes; they have different smells and sounds based on the kind of stone or the quality of the stone.
• ·        You have to consider ALL the elements when making a sculpture: where it’s going to be placed, inside or outside, its natural surroundings, etc.
• ·        Sculptures are a fragile artwork; you can’t add marble once it’s been carved away so a lengthy planning process goes into the final outcome. This includes leaving bridges between fragile parts such as fingers and limbs. Bridges are pieces of marble left un-carved and saved for last to finish.
• ·        Getting marble from the mountains is a long and dangerous process for the quarrymen.
• ·        Sculpting requires MUCH collaboration and teamwork. Many specialized artisans are needed to produce the final outcome. The clay model, the plaster mold, and the marble carving all require very unique processes.
• ·        “A sculpture comes alive in clay, dies in plaster, and is reborn in marble.”

 – Emmanuel Fillion

Key points from the video: Installation Art

• ·        Installation art is fashionable and trendy but very controversial.
• ·        The artwork takes over the space and defines the space, it’s something all around you.
• ·        Installation art can be inside a building, part of a building itself, or outside.
• ·        The art forces you to interact with it, demands your attention.
• ·        Video installations use film clips and are extremely popular, they automatically catch your attention whereas a painting has to earn it.
• ·        Much of installation art is labor intensive, requires a team of collaborating artists working together to make one idea come into place.
• ·        It’s referred to as “the art of the moment” because more often than not it cannot be exactly recreated from one place to the next. It’s not necessarily something that can be taken apart and put back together the same way at a new art exhibit.
• ·        The ‘off the wall’ interaction with installation art is part of the experience; it forces the viewer to ‘expect the unexpected.’

These films relate to the text because they gave more insight to the hard work that goes into producing these final art forms. The text talks about the process of modeling, assembling, carving, and casting, but I had no idea how intensely detailed all these processes actually were and how they can take up to years to complete. The text gave some examples of installation art but the film really went in depth to the artist’s perspective behind it and how many different ways it can come together.

I thought the films were really interesting. I didn’t know much about the processes discussed in tem beforehand and it really gave me a much deeper appreciation for all of these artists. I like how the glass and ceramics video touched base on these mediums as both art and craft. Dry pressing and mass production create utilitarian objects while glass blowing and molten glass molding can create a completely unique product of fine art. I have always been intrigued by certain kinds of installation art (my all time favorite photographer being Andy Goldsworthy) but the video about this medium really gave me more of an insight on all different kinds of installation art, not just the kind outdoors. I don’t know if I understand or respect certain kinds of installation art still, some things I find difficult to argue as art. I know that many may argue this, and certainly some of the curators and artists in this video, but I personally can’t find the beauty in a urinal on a platform. I do know however that I have a much deeper respect for anyone involved in the process of putting together works of art such as stained glass, sculptures, and large installations. I think I can admire the work more know knowing the process behind it.