My Influences...
Judy Pfaff, Frank Stella, and Matthew Ritchie are three artists I would name who have influenced my work and inspired me as an artist.
Artists' Practices:
Background
- Judy Pfaff ----> born in 1946 in London, moved to America at 13. Undergrad at Washington University, MFA from Yale, currently a professor at Bard College.
- Frank Stella ----> born in 1936, attended Princeton. Currently lives and still works in New York.
- Matthew Ritchie ----> born in 1964 in London. BFA from London's Camberwell School of Art. Currently lives and works in New York City.
Big Ideas and Key Concepts
- Judy Pfaff ----> I would say Judy's work deals with ideas of transformation in a very literal way - she is taking spaces and creating environments that combine elements of architecture, nature, and color into large organic installations.
- Frank Stella ----> Frank's work deals with ideas of abstraction and representation, particularly protesting the common ideas of abstraction - saying that abstract work was in fact pure representation because it wasn't trying to be anything else - the work itself was an object, the thing to be presented.
- Matthew Ritchie ----> Matthew works with ideas of information being "on the surface", and human comprehension of information. Information is the subject of his work, and he seeks to represent the universe and the knowledge and belief we use to understand it.
Boundaries
- Judy Pfaff ----> combines sculpture, painting, and architecture into large installations that fluctuate between 2D and 3D.
- Frank Stella ----> started working originally creating paintings, but since has moved to freestanding sculptures and architectural structures.
- Matthew Ritchie ----> creates works on paper and prints, but also works often with installation and freestanding sculpture.
Artmaking Practices
- Judy Pfaff ----> combines multiple materials, such as steel, fiberglass, plaster, found objects, and natural elements into organic pieces that work together as a whole.
- Frank Stella ----> used mostly paint in his early work, but with his sculptures used a variety of materials including different metals, found objects, and wood.
- Matthew Ritchie ----> starts with a drawing, then scans them into a computer to manipulate them - whether by making them larger, cutting them apart, or otherwise deconstructing them in order to transform them into 3D pieces.
Key Artworks
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| "N.Y.C. - B.Q.E.," 1987 Painted steel, plastic laminates, fiberglass, wood, paint, lawn furniture, and awnings 15 x 35 x 9 inches Copyright Judy Pfaff |
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| "K .37 lattice variation protogen RPT (mid-size)," 2008Protogen RPT with Stainless Steel Tubing, 56 x 35 x 28 inches Copyright Frank Stella |
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| "Self-Portrait in 2064," 2003 Oil and marker on canvas, 80 x 100 inches Copyright Matthew Ritchie |
Cat Soup...
What is this animation about (big idea/key concepts/themes etc)?
The animation follows a cat as he journeys through the land of the dead. It seems to use the ideas of death and the soul, and ideas of religion and the gods.
What artmaking strategies (conceptual/technical/visual) does the artist use to illustrate the theme? What is the artist's point with example? Assess the effectiveness of the example.
The artist uses animation to show many different scenes in this cat's walk through death or the world of the dead. Conceptually, the piece is very complex in the references to many different issues of corruption. One specific visual strategy I thought was really interesting was the use of the "camera" angle. In one scene, someone was drinking from a spoon and the scene tilted so the viewer was under the spoon, with soup dripping onto the screen. It then covered the screen and moved on to another scene. This was really interesting and effective to me as a way to change scenes without abruptly moving to a different setting.
Give a personal response or ideas on how the animation(cat soup) might help you create your own animation.
What is creativity?
I would say that creativity is a new way of thinking or doing that is completely different, original, and unique. Creative thinking can be used for many things, whether it be solving a problem or creating something new. I see imagination as a large part of creativity, as well as the ability to form ideas and create new interpretations.
How can creativity be taught?
I think creativity can be cultivated through diverse experiences in art and culture. I would say that each person has a certain amount of creativity to begin with, but then their creative world can be expanded by the things they see and do and experience. Exploring different views and ways of thinking can expand a student's mind, resulting in more innovative ways of perceiving things, whether it be art or any other subject.
Why creativity NOW? Why do you think creativity is especially important now?
I think having original thinking in this age is important because so much art has already been made. People are not interested in artists, writers, and philosophers that just recreate something that has already been done. Having something new and fresh opens the art world up even more. Not only that, but for students growing up in our media and technologically-advanced world, creative thinking is becoming a must-have. Students need to be challenged to think outside of what they know so that they are truly learning.
How can technology (digital media) be used to implement creativity in learning through the visual art?
Technology can not only be used for research, but also now for creating visual projects. Videos, presentations, and other 2D media can all be done on a computer, and I think giving students this other option to allow them room for creativity in whatever form of art they choose will help broaden students' thinking about the creative uses of technology.
Example:
I'm sure a lot of people have heard of, if not done, the tried-and-true project: the self-portrait. If I ever assigned a self-portrait, I might cry to see someone haul out a picture of his or herself, and begin developing a grid so that they can copy it onto their drawing paper. For me, creativity means thinking beyond what everyone expects you to do. I would be so much more happy to see a project like the one below, where I feel the artist is using personal things to develop a portrait that tells people something about herself. Not only that, but the artist is doing a technology-based piece to add new life to a project that has years of usage.
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