1/18/2014 0 Comments Artsy.netHave you been on Artsy.net?
This is a question I wish I had answered "yes" to a long time ago. If you are the kind of person who loves art and wants to expand your knowledge of the world, this is the obsession for you. I honestly can't remember how I learned about Artsy, but since then I have somewhat relied on it for my doses of sanity (when daily life seems to go up in smoke), of inspiration and of reminiscence (I sometimes find myself missing those days of inhaling cups of coffee and meticulously studying and analyzing for my UW Art History classes). Like every other social media site, Artsy lets you customize your profile. Unlike Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, however, this one customizes according to your artistic personal interests and future learning endeavors. There is a tremendously wide range of media as well as a large selection of museums/galleries, as you can actually see photos of how particular art pieces are displayed in these venues--this gives the art fanatic a chance to keep their mind open and eyes searching for that unexpected hit of inspiration to come onto the screen. You can basically do the following three things on Artsy: Look at art you like, explore the art you may have never heard of or conceptualized, and write about art. I personally find the third to be the most exciting part about Artsy. You can really tell here that it is a website open to all perspectives. You have the chance to get your voice out in the art universe and perhaps to foster productive and flourishing conversation. Here is the link, which not surprisingly is www.artsy.net. Enjoy and let me know what you think! Much love, ~~MC
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11/18/2013 0 Comments I Gave In...to Pinterest.Above Image: An example of the many pins I have enjoyed...pinning lately.
Photo is courtesy of http://breakfastatyurmans.tumblr.com/ After many, many months of staying away from the irresistible trend, I finally gave in. I now have my very own Pinterest account! For awhile, I have been making my contributions on the website but only kept it at an arm's length, as it has been for my internship at a renowned art gallery. But, as time went on, I realized how appealing it is to communicate to others at such an abbreviated level. What I found even more appealing was that, despite how abbreviated the communication, I loved how one could still gain so much out of looking at a pin, whether it was of a recipe for the most delicious looking chocolate cake in the world or of an inspirational quote that perhaps you may find yourself relying on to help get you out of bed on an early Monday morning. So, I decided to create my Pinterest account as my abbreviated version of the MC blog. In other words, my Pinterest has three boards that are the same as the three sections of this blog: Foods for Fantasizing, Artistic Appetite, and Life au Cochon. And, just to you know, I do plan on continuing to devote myself to this website, just because I love it too much to stop. Follow this link and enjoy the rest of your day! But, on one condition: Please don't find yourself spending your entire Monday perusing about the boards - It's always nice to add some variety to the day. http://www.pinterest.com/mcshirene/ Much love... ~~MC 2/7/2013 0 Comments Long-Lost LoveIt's been nearly a year since I last posted something on this page. I glance at the title I had made up when I first created my MC website, and MAN do I have an artistic appetite right now! This sudden spike in my urge to consume something, anything art-related has to do with my past few weeks of doing nothing but studying accounting (I am taking other classes of course, including an art discussion class, but that art class is only two days/week as the accounting class requires much effort and time.) Although I have enjoyed learning what has been labeled as "the language of business," it's surely not the same as all the art history classes I had taken these past few years. So, I am taking the opportunity here on this "Artistic Appetite" page to write about my long-lost love, Art. I guess I can say that it's been a good thing that I my love's been taken away from me this quarter at UW, because without that I wouldn't have realized how much I love my art history major. Now I know for sure that art history is what I want my future career to center itself around. :) Anyway, this is a painting I have thought about from time to time these past few weeks: This is The Old Guitarist by the one and only Pablo Picasso, from 1903. A somber-toned piece from his Blue Period (which began after his friend's suicide), it is overtaken by a monochromatic blue that even penetrates the elderly man who we see here in an arching, enclosed pose. There is curvature in front of you, beginning with the contours of the man and continuing into the shape of the guitar. During this time, Picasso had just moved to Paris and was living in great poverty, so during this Blue Period he painted people he had identified with, such as prostitutes, beggars, and society outcasts.
Out of all these descriptions, I mostly love this painting because of how revolutionary it was at the time. Picasso was on the verge of Expressionism, one of many movements that counteracted the ancient tradition that demanded naturalism, reliance on shading to create volume, and allegorical images. But, Picasso and like-minded artists (Manet, Monet, Cezanne, etc.) pushed the boundaries of painting to make the viewer actively recognize the function of line versus color, in addition to the flatness and materiality of the canvas--notice how here in The Old Guitarist, the man looks completely flat and nearly pressed into the canvas. In other words, these Vanguard painters urged the viewer to concentrate and think deeply about the formal aspects of painting, the individual part that come together to become what people label "a painting." Instead of creating a new world that one is supposed to dive completely into, the viewer is meant to take in what's in front of him/her and realize how the painting relates to his/her own world. ...You can probably tell by now how much I have missed writing art history papers! I present to you evidence that without distractions like Facebook (more intensely detailed in a recent post on my Here It Goes blog; for website address, see home page!), many brilliantly colorful things can emerge. :)
I will keep this small canvas (4" x 6") sitting on my easel next to my bed, so that every time I walk past it I will be reminded of what capabilities a person can unravel with just a gallon of extra time, a cinnamon stick of a paintbrush, a dash of acrylic paint in seemingly infinite tones, and a ginormous dose of inspiration. Happy Tuesday! ~~MC |
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