Medium of the Art/Technique of the Artist
This piece is entitled "I-95 Construction" by Silvia Lizama. I was also intrigued by the technique in this piece, mostly because at first glance I thought it was a photograph! Even after reading the description I couldn't quite believe it wasn't a photo. This piece is hand=painted gelatin silver print. The technique of this artist is exquisitely realistic. To hand-paint something that looks so much like it could be a snapshot of real life was completely dumbfounding to me.
This piece is entitled "Road Worker," by Diego Rivera. This was one of few pieces in the museum that was obviously drawn, not sculpted or painted. This piece struck me because of it's unique medium, charcoal on rice paper. Although the materials seem quite simple, the piece as a whole says much more than just the sum of its parts.
Design of the Museum
This is "Ode a l'Oubli" by Louise Bourgeois. This caught my attention while I was considering the design of the museum. I walked into a new section of the museum and saw this book, beautifully displayed with each page in it's own frame. This display was in the Women as Artists segment of the museum, and it really caught my eye.
I appreciated this section of the museum, even though no art was currently being displayed. There were a few quotes on the walls about religious division vs unity and the relationship between the US and the Middle East. I want to visit/live in the Middle East at some point in my life time, and as a Christian with a deep heart for Muslims and the troubles they have been through, I greatly appreciated this segment of the museum.
Art and core values
I included this sculpture to represent one of my core values: Family. "Family" is the title of this piece, sculpted by Agustin Cardenas. My family has supported me through thick and thin and no matter who messes up and how bad, we are always there for each other. We give all the types of love, the mushy, sappy kind and the tough kind. I wouldn't be the woman I am today without my family, and no matter how my family grows as I get older I will always keep my family a priority in my life.
Another of my core values would be equality. This picture is of me next to a Woman's Head Shawl, or a Tajira. This was made by the Amazigh women of Tunisia. In the description of this head shawl, it describes the role of women in the Amazigh society. Women have held many leadership roles in this society, serving as rulers and queens and holy leaders. I do not consider myself a feminist, but I do value equality between all types of people very highly. In this case, these women were viewed not as superior or inferior to men, but as their equals, despite their head garments (as Americans view head garments today). That is something I greatly appreciated about this artwork.
Art and the Good Life
I included this sculpture because I thought it conveyed Thinking, one of the themes of The Good Life. This sculpture is entitled "II-06-94" by Nancy Graves. The description mentions how this abstract sculpture represents her various interests in music, astronomy, paleontology, botany, and anatomy. There is also a horseshoe crab the "offers a glimpse of the origins of life on earth." Graves clearly put a lot of thought into this work and wanted it to display very specific things.
I included this photo (with my gorgeous thumb, I apologize for the poor photography skills) to represent the theme of Sharing in the Good Life. Sharing is more than just letting your brother play with your brand new blue and black basketball. It is sharing the moments of life with the people around you, forming relationships with them and going through life together. In the piece, entitled "Bicycles" by Robert Purser, the people are simply riding their bikes together. But it is shared memories like those, a bike ride with friends or an intense bike race where your family cheered for you at the finish line, it is those moments in life that we share and that shape us into who we are today.