I spent a lot of time on the restaurant/ cafe on the right. I'm trying to make it seem lively. I am also trying to make the window look like glass, with the rest of the restaurant inside. It's kind of a challenge but also really fun to do!
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While art comes from a very internal source, it is greatly affected by external factors. In an ideal world, art would be in another realm, set apart from politics and finances. Unfortunately, the reality of the situation requires art to often be in the midst of controversy. It can be extremely difficult for artists to have to make a living based solely on selling art, and the government or other patrons often have to step in. However, when government begins to think they control the realm of art, it can result in censorship and pillage. Through the articles we have read and the discussions we have had in class, I have come to the conclusion that most patrons have the right to exercise control over the products of the artists they sponsor, but government should do its best to fund art without exercising control over the creations.
I think that the government not only has the responsibility to fund art, but that it is in the country’s benefit to do so. Art creates culture and legacy. Studies of ancient civilizations often arise from the art they leave behind. The art and architecture of these ancient places – such as ancient Rome, ancient Greece, and ancient Egypt, and – have a large and important influence on our world today. The article, “Behind The Movie, Tales From The Real-Life 'Monuments Men,'” explains the motives behind the Hollywood movie that tells the story of a special group of soldiers tasked with protecting the masterpieces of European culture during the chaos of World War II and its aftermath. George Stout, the real-life conservator and museum director who helped start the Monuments Men, explains why the team's mission is a critical one: "You can wipe out a generation of people. You can burn their homes to the ground, and somehow they'll still come back. But if you destroy their achievements, and their history, then it's like they never existed." In a sense, by failing to provide the money necessary for artists to create, the government is destroying an important aspect of our culture and history. Artists need money support themselves and their families in order to continue. In Richard Vine’s article, “When Government Funded the Arts,” he says “the state, with a population of 11.5 million, is slated to spend roughly $8.5 million this year on artists, organizations, and all the arts, visual and performing – the price of a single contemporary art-star painting at auction.” Funding for the arts is strikingly low. Vine says that “so great is the public funding squeeze that Obama has been forced to curtail, shelve, or defer most of the eight-point arts program that he proposed during his 2008 presidential bid.” Vine stresses the absence of art in the political arena, as many politicians “have been silent on the whole topic,” not even addressing it. Many people argue that art is not a necessity to the health and well-being of Americans, and with limited government expenditures, art does not fall on it’s priority list. However, Senator Tom Coburn’s "Wastebook" identifies 100 examples of blatant government waste totaling $30 billion – including the $5,210 that the State Department tried to spend on a blowup, human-size foosball field for an embassy in Belize, and $450,000 that the Homeland Security Department spent on high-end gym memberships for staffers whose federal health insurance already pays for gym benefits. The necessary budget cuts that government must take should not affect art. A problem even more drastic than governments not taking control in the area of art and creation, is governments taking too much control. Some governments regulate the type of work that is being produced and ban, or even destroy, art that does not follow those standards. The article, “Behind The Movie, Tales From The Real-Life 'Monuments Men’” talks about how “the Nazis stole artwork on a scale like no one before or since. They plundered museums and churches across Europe and seized works from Jewish collectors.” The Nazis had a very strict code for art, and usually promoted realistic paintings of blonde German soldiers or German women, or pretty outside landscapes from around Germany. Any type of expression that did not fit this pattern was not accepted, especially not abstract art or art created by Jews. The same thing happens today in some countries in the Middle East. The article, “‘INFIDELS': ISIS ERASING IRAQ’S CULTURE WITH DESTRUCTIVE RAIDS ON LIBRARIES,” talks about how Isis has been destroying and selling “offensive” art and books in the black market, claiming that “these books promote infidelity and call for disobeying Allah. So they will be burned.” While the U.S. government’s handling of art should certainly not be compared to the pillage of Nazi Germany or ISIS, these examples do provide for a valuable lesson. Any type of censorship is limiting the rights artists should have to truly express themselves and create from within. While all governments, including the U.S., should fund art if they are capable, this is not a license to control artists’ products and to ban certain modes of creation. The time when I do believe that artists’ products can be rightly controlled is in cases of patronage. Patronage is another method of artistic support that can be extremely helpful and influential. One of the reasons the Renaissance flourished throughout Italy was because of the Medici family. Jonathan Jones says in his article, “The Medicis: money, myth and mystery,” that, “The Medici are among the most renowned art patrons in history, and with good reason.... When we look at Botticelli's Venus, we are looking at money.” Recently, the Vatican has been trying to build bridges between the Catholic church and modern artists by sponsoring them. In Judith Harris’s article, “THE CHURCH GIVES CONTEMPORARY ART ITS BLESSING,” she quotes Ravasi, a noted biblical scholar, teacher, writer, and TV commentator. He said that “for a century now there has been a divorce between art and faith. The basic idea is to return to a dialogue on biblical and religious themes between the Church and the great artists of our time—artists such as Bill Viola, Anish Kapoor, and Jannis Kounellis.’” While the art sponsored by the Vatican Church would be limited and censored, they are providing a great opportunity for artists who want to take it. Since artists play an important role in society in developing culture, it is the responsibility of government to provide subsidies for artists in some form or another. This could include project grants to individual artists, or even subsidies to art stores so they can cheapen the prices of canvases, oil paints, and other art supplies. Patrons and other art supporters also play an important role in promoting and funding artistic creation. The government also has the responsibility to make sure that they are not impeding on artists’ rights, through censorship of any form, to create originally from their hearts and minds. This week I started my next project, which I think I am going to do a process critique because I have tackled a pretty big project. The canvas is a lot bigger than I'm used to. I also plan on going into a little more detail than my past paintings.
Today was my last day to work on my home project before it's due tomorrow! I tried to make it have more of a unique color scheme by adding in purple leaves to the trees and incorporating some of that purple in the street. I made the people a little bit more realistic than I have in the past and added highlights on the people in the bottom left-hand corner. I am not crazy about the way this one turned out, but I think it was a good learning experience.
This week I have been continuing to work on my home project. I decided to add in a tree because I like how the trees looked in some of my older paintings.
This week I got kind of a late start on my home project. I am challenging myself with this one by painting a sidewalk that goes straight back, with another sidewalk coming from the right side to meet it. It will be interesting to work from this perspective.
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AuthorMy Name is Willa King, I am a sophomore at Maggie Walker Governor's school, and I am an Art 3 Student. Archives
June 2016
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