Saturday 5 July 2014

Final Reflection Essay (4) - Live! CalArts (Coursera)

Here is the fourth and final assignment, Final Reflection Essay which was a summary of our experience from the course Live!: A History of Art for Artists, Animators and Gamers by California Institute of the Arts aka CalArts on Coursera (MOOC), which had been ended in May. The course was about 9-weeks long and taught by amazing Jeannene Przyblyski.

For more information about the course, check out: https://www.coursera.org/course/livearthistory


Final Reflective Essay Assignment

This course asks how artists actively make a history for their own practices by thinking about their creative process as a “conversation” with a wide range of art from the past. How has this course helped you establish a greater sense of your own art historical awareness?

To help focus your answer, you must include an example of a work from one of the lectures, the discussion forums, or any research initiated from your participation in this class.

Choose a work that not only interests you, but has had an impact, no matter how small, on your creative practice as well.

This section should be 300-600 words in length.



The Gift (1921) by Man Ray

Final Reflection


It is not always one thing which sparks the creativeness within us. So choosing a single example from these lectures which are almost eleven hours in length and the discussion forums which are full of creative juices, is a difficult task. I still have to digest a lot of materials which are present in these forums and to me, there were a lot of things to reflect back and which helped me in one way or another. Taking into consideration that this was my first ever art history class which I've ever attended to as being a 3d animator for all these year. This whole course really helped me significantly and have introduced me to so many great artists and different art forms which are now part of my collection.

Every week brings in a new sets of history in different art forms, which help me to consider which path or work appeals me the most. The progression of week by week from the origin to the modern times, I can say, it made me able to see and understand the art much better now. The week which influences me the most was the Reality Distortion, which was week 6. As my continuously increasing interest in surrealism and metaphorical art form these days, it gradually help me to better understand the subject and it's origin more.

The example which I want to highlight here which also impacts me was Man Ray’s The Gift (1921) from the lecture 4 of week 6, Techniques of Defamiliarizing and Unknowing, Giants and Miniatures. A visual of it, when it appears on the screen in the lecture and hearing the details about it made me go into deep thinking. Man Ray presented his work in a very simple fashion, as using everyday object and combining it with another to make an unusable item or we can say a dangerous item. In addition, it was served as a gift too. It inspire me to do something related to it, not in the same medium but incorporate it into different visual art form. I already have few ideas which I will try to incorporate it into different media in near future.

I think the main reason which attracts me towards his work was it's simplicity, which I strongly considering it in my every step of life. Simple but at the same time dangerous. I would really like to try in telling a tale through surreal abstract visual art. It would be challenging and interesting.

The week 6 was interesting and give me lot to think about. I also might try to take my first step towards stop motion animation, which I adore so much. There are a lot of possibilities and techniques which can be used and can be dared with the help of the history understanding, which I would never have if I haven't came across this course.
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