Clark Metzger - Art Muesum Visit

Garrett Montgomery - Art Muesum Visit

After walking around the Dallas Museum of Art for a few hours, I finally found the picture I wanted to write my paper about. This painting is of the Eiffel Tower and however it being that I forgot to look at who the artist was and the name of the painting, my descriptions will be

Group Paragone Discussion

Do you think one type of art is superior to another?
   Our group concluded that there is not a superior form of art.  Our
main reasoning is that all forms of art require a very specific skill or
talent and that placing value on it is largely subjective.  In some
cases, not just in our Picasso group, it is all “in the eyes of the
beholder” as Allen stated.  

Do you think a discussion as a paragone is useful?
   We had mixed feelings for this topic.  Amy and Clark thought that the
use of a paragone is not useful, feeling that direct comparison of
different art forms is more confrontational than useful. On the other
hand Allen and I did not use the word “useful” in our statements, though
we both feel that they are interesting and give us a good amount of
information about the subjects that are being discussed.

How did your week as an artist influence your interpretation of this
reading?
   Except for Clark, who is still reassured that he has difficulty with
art, our group seemed to benefit very much from our “standing in the
shoes” project.  For the painters it gave them a better understanding of
the challenges that accompany painting, and both Clark and Amy agreed
that the proper use of light and shadow is very difficult. As for me,
doing the sculpting, I realized that it is much easier to picture in
your head what you want than to actually sculpt it using a particular
medium.

Clark Metzger - Standing in the Shoes - Leonardo Da Vinci

I drew simple tetracubes in my sketch which appear in both the foreground and background. The geometric shapes provide several orthogonal lines which all align with the vanishing point roughly in the center of sketch. I attempted to shade the platforms and and the tower in the background to show they are farther away. The shading of the background was the last element added and greatly enhances the perception of perspective, making the two foreground blocks seem far more 3-dimensional.

Allen Mihecoby - Standing in the Shoes - Leonardo Da Vinci

In order to demonstrate the contrast between the foreground and the background, I attempted to show the mountain on the far left as being closer and the mountains behind it further away. I attempted (very crudely, I admit) to show the distance by shading the mountains that were further back.

To demonstrate the perspective, I showed a bush closer to the viewer’s field of vision and to the right of the road. In the further background I showed a smaller tree and smaller bush.

The vanishing point is where the road ends at the horizon, in between the mountains.

It was an interesting exercise in attempting to adapt the text of our readings about da Vinci into an actual piece of “art.” (I use that term loosely as I realize I have NO artistic talent). Believe it or not I tried several times to make something presentable as my art drawing. The one I ended up posting was the best one in my opinion. This assignment did allow me a greater understanding and appreciation for those in this field.

Garrett Montgomery - Standing in the Shoes - Michelangelo Buonarroti

After doing my own sculpture I now have a better idea of how Buonarroti felt sculpting the David. He took over 3 three years to make this massive sculpture and is one of the most recognizable pieces of art today. The detail in the David is remarkable, just trying to sculpt a simple design in my bar of soap was very difficult. I tried to sculpt my piece using screwdrivers, thumbtacks, and knives. I believe Buonarroti only used a hammer and chisel. Also trying to imagine doing a sculpture to the size as he did, all in marble, is hard for me to imagine.

Amy Morris - Standing in the Shoes - Leonardo Da Vinci

This assignment used different aspects of linear perspective including aerial perspective, objects in the foreground and background and a vanishing point. To show aerial perspective some shading had to be done to the sketch in order to show the objects were not flat. Also more detail was given to the objects that were in the foreground than those in the background.

Putting objects in the foreground was easiest because they were up close so size was not an issue there. However the objects in the background were harder to draw because they were further away and depth perception was not as clear. This part of the sketch was more likely to be estimates than objects being drawn to scale. These had to be drawn as seen in the view.

This assignment was mainly difficult because of the choice of vanishing point(s). If the vanishing point was not chosen correctly then the sketch would not look balanced. This was hardest because the orthogonal lines coming from this point had to seen clearly.