René Magritte: Art Critique

Art Word of the week: Space
Positive space: "the space taken up with lines, colours, shapes, and forms."(Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009)
Negative space: "The space left between or surrounding subject matter, symbols, or shapes."(Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009)

"Proportion": comparative relation between things or magnitudes as to size, quantity, number, ratio, etc.
I chose the word proportion as another the art word of the week as it is so commonly used by artists to create a piece that is realistic as it is representative of things that we can visually see in our world. We know how big a tree is in proportion to a person or a house. We know how infinite the sky is and how big a grain of sand is in proportion to a mountain. 
We often praise artists when they are able to capture the essence of things in real life through detailed techniques that demonstrate the many dimensions of an object or a scene. But what happens when we change the proportions of the objects?
Ever since I studied art and art history throughout high school I have been captivated by the SURREALIST art movement. I admire the work of artists like SALVADOR DALI who can create realism in a bizarre manner by changing the aspects of things which we can relate to in real life. And therefore of course the first thing that I looked for when I entered the museum was the surrealist exhibit. This was the painting that caught my eye once I entered the room. When I read the name of the artist, it immediately made sense to me why I was intrigued by the painting. He was an artist who I studied a few years back, and he is also one of my favourite surrealist painter.

René Magritte
The Anniversary
1959

René Magritte's paintings are particularly intriguing because of his bizarre use of proportions. Although he has created a sense of realism in his art, it still strikes me how he chose to paint the rock so abnormally large in proportion to the tiny room. At first glance, I did not even realize that the rock was in fact in an interior setting. This contrast also interested me, as he chose to place something natural which usually belongs outdoors (the rock) into a more structured interior setting (the room). This reminded me of the piece that was also shown to us during our tour of the museum with the cheetos and the piled rocks. Perhaps they may convey a similar subject matter in which the painter chose to bring into question. 


When I look at this image it gives me a sense of suffocation. The painter created the painting in a manner that seems to include the viewer in the crowded room. There is no space to walk comfortably, and there seems to be little space to breath. There are no doors that are visible in the scene in which the viewer could escape from, and return to the outside world. There are no other sources of light in the room other than the natural lighting coming through the window. Although there is a window, only a portion of the window is allowing the light to shine through as the curtains are blocking the rest of the view. Perhaps the artist wants to bring an environmental issue to attention. It is ironic that the only item in the room is something that is natural which belongs outdoors. This may relate to the technological changes that were occuring in the world during the 1950s in which this painting was created. Perhaps it was a warning, that we should be keeping the things in our world in it's natural setting rather than suffocating them in the unnatural world which we created. By drastically changing the size of the rock, it gives it emphasis in the painting, and simply makes it more OBVIOUS to the viewer that it does not belong-bringing our attention to the problem at hand. This is how I chose to interpret the painting, but of course this may not be the actual meaning behind Magritte's painting.

This is a photo of a water colour painting which I painted a few years back. This painting was inspired by the works of René Magritte, as illustrated through the strange use of proportion. In the image, the one thing that is out of place is the gigantic teddy bear keychain leaning in the crib. The key chain was sort of a keep sake which my aunt mailed to me when I was younger. It is particularly meaningful to me, and I decided to make it the focus of my painting. Although I did not choose to use realism in the way that many surrealist artists did, I did attempt to play with the proportions to bring emphasis to the keep sake.






As an early childhood educator, it is important to allow children to be exposed to many different types of artworks and styles of creating art so that they can learn to have an appreciation for differences, by looking at the pieces that represent different cultures and diversity. It is important that early childhood educators learn how to talk about artwork in terms of their elements when discussing with children, so that it can improve their creative knowledge. 




Reference: 

            Schirrmacher,R., & Fox, J.E. (2009). Art and creative development for young children (6^th Ed.). Belmont, CA: Delmar.            

Colours & Miniatures.

There are many definitions associated with the word "colour" but the one which best explains it with respects to the arts is most likely this one:

col·our

 
[kuhl-er]
–noun
The quality of an object or substance with respect to light reflected by the object, usually determined visually by measurement of hue, saturation, and brightness of the reflected light; saturation or chroma; hue.
Or
According to Schirrmacher & Fox (2009), "it's based on the passage of light (visual sensation of light caused by stimulating cones of the retina. 

Grass, pond(with turtle), and bake stand.

I chose the word colour as the word of the week because I simply cannot deny it's significance in our everyday lives. Other aspects such as balance, volume and mass, space, lines, shapes and forms also exhist and surround us, but can any of you imagine a world without colour? Without colour, our world would be black and white, and we would never be able to know that the sky is blue, that the grass is green, and that certain jelly beans taste better than others.  Colours fill our world with beauty and enhances our imaginations. It inspires us to have new ideas, and allows us to find new ways of expressing our deepest thoughts. The world, as we experience it is visually inspiring because of the many dimensions that colours allow us to see. If you were to take colour out of our everyday lives we would be confined to live in those black and white films which many of us find uninteresting and boring. And so in my attempt to use colour in my creative sculpture, I have created a miniature scene using everyday items that I found in my home. This is an image of what I have made.

Materials that I used to make everything in the scene.

Colour, as I have experienced it has shaped every aspect of my life. It creates a dimension of uniqueness and creativity in every object, place or person that I encounter, as well as the pieces that I create. This image is my attempt to recreate a scene in which some of us can relate to. I used the colour blue to create the pond through the use of pieces of origami paper, rubber bands and beads. I created the patches of grass with the same items and arranged them in a way that reminded me of a park in which I grew up around. I also made a stand for "baked goods" by wrapping a container of push pins with construction paper to create the miniature table. I also used orange construction paper to make the little roof over the table. Throughout the scene, I created small miniature animals such as the turtle and the green duck in the pond, as well as the small chick in the grass. On the bake stand I created miniature cakes and cupcakes with polymer clay that I found lying around my house.

What interests me most about the miniature scene that I made is that if I did not use shades of blue paper for the pond and shades of green for the grass, it would be pretty impossible to figure out what I was attempting to create. Say for example, that the grass and the pond were just comprised of scattered pieces of rainbow coloured papers. It certainly would not have created the same outcome. The scene in itself is explained by my choice of colours. 

Can you tell what the scene is now that the colour is taken out of it?

As an early childhood educator, it is important to talk to children about the elements in their own artwork that make them unique. Children create sculptures out of lego, blocks, construction papers, boxes, and pretty much anything that they can find. Children learn through play, and are constantly engaged in some form of art-making. It is up to the educator to bring to the child's attention the sculptures that they make on a daily bases, and help them appreciate the different forms of artistic expression. It is also important to give them opportunities to explain their art-pieces, as I have done here with my instant sculpture to help them learn more about their style of art-making. 

Reference:

            Schirrmacher,R., & Fox, J.E. (2009). Art and creative development for young children (6^th Ed.). Belmont, CA: Delmar.            

Inspired.

"Creativity"

The word "creativity" can be defined in infinite ways depending on the person who is defining it. Creativity allows each individual the freedom to express their thoughts and ideas through different ways. It gives us many windows of opportunity to illustrate to the world who we are, and what makes me, "me" or what makes you, "you". Creativity encourages us to be innovative, and create brand new things out of ordinary information that we receive in our everyday lives. It ultimately encourages us to embrace our differences, accept our own and other's perspectives, and allows us to meaningfully integrate what is within us into each individual experience and personalize the world in which we live. 

The Importance of Creativity!

Ever since we were a baby, we were born into a highly structured world. We are socialized within our society to obey societal norms, and conform to cultural and traditional values. All around us we are bound to rules and laws that limit our ability to creatively construct our own world. We are limited to say and do what is appropriate and acceptable or otherwise be casted out of the in-crowd. Children are amazing because they have not yet been corrupted by the views and ideologies of our current society. They break rules, and talk out of turn. They believe completely in their arguments when you tell them otherwise. They run past boundaries, and know how to say NO to someone else's suggestions about their painting. They know that what they are doing is the right way because their ideas and thoughts tell them so. This is the spirit of childhood that we should all be preserving. In our society, we are placed by endless constraints and boundaries. We are limited to a "convergent" mindset, and as we grow older much of our creativity is lost in the process of maturation. 

     Sometimes creativity requires courage as it requires us to be different and to think outside the box. The world may give you boundaries, but creativity has no limitations. It requires us to stand out and do something different from what everyone else in our environment is doing.  When you do something different, someone is bound to talk or judge. And like the stubborn creative child, you need to believe in your creative ideas and be bold enough to be different. That is why I would also say, that creativity requires a LEAP OF FAITH.

My sister is one of my greatest inspirations. She is determined, loud, and extremely outspoken. She always speaks her mind. She may be blunt, but she is one of the most honest people I've ever known. She is extremely creative and an amazing artist. I would like to share below something that she's made recently.

This is an image of what she first showed me. 

(She had taped cut out strips of two pages together at different lengths.)

I thought it was a cut out of steps.

This is what she then showed me.

And here it is again :)

Creativity's really something.