Art as a Way of Knowing
What is art? Art offers insights into the
human condition - N. Alchin
To complete
this assignment, you need to go the National Gallery of Canada on
Answer the
following questions:
1. As you
approach the art gallery, you will see a large, spindly sculpture outside the
main doors. It is of a spider with a sac of eggs under its abdomen.
(a) What is your initial reaction upon seeing this piece?
(b) Do you think initial reaction is a very important quality in art?
Be sure to
walk around the work, under the work and to touch the work.
(c) Has your reaction to this work changed?
Louise Bourgeoise is the artist of this piece. Look beside one of
the main doors to find out what it is called.
(e) Do you believe the piece is appropriately titled? Why or why not?
(f) Do you
believe that having possible varied responses to this work is a weakness or a strength?
(g) What if the work inspires an emotional response completely different from
the intentions of the artist? Does this make the artwork more or less
successful? Explain your answer.
Go into the
museum, pay your admission. After paying, walk up the ramp to the atrium.
Go into
gallery A101- FIRST FLOOR- Canadian Art.
Art
through the Years
2. As you move from A102
to A112, the nature of these Canadian works of art changes. Paying special
attention to EACH of the following aspects: (a) subject (what the painting is
about), (b) style, (c) use of colour (d) use of materials
and (e) brushstrokes, describe how you notice art has changed through history.
3. What broad
trends do you see happening to art through the years?
Finding
Meaning in Art
4. Art asks us
to find our own meaning at times. Find the large work Pavane by Canadian
artist Jean-Paul Riopelle in gallery A112 and sit in
the seats provided.
(a) How is the artist trying to convey meaning?
(b) What is your interpretation of Pavane?
Nature,
Mathematics and Art
After you are through
gallery A114, look in on the garden of impatiens flowers and ferns. There is a
metal piece of art which looks like DNA. You are allowed to play with this if
you choose. Cross the gardens and look at a fern.
6. (a) Is nature itself art? If so, does that mean everything is
art?
Pictures of
ferns have been created by artists using mathematical patterns from chaos
theory called fractals.
(b) Do you think computers can create REAL art on their own, or are people
required to create art?
Architecture
Next to the fern garden is the now reconstructed Rideau
Street Convent Chapel. Sit in it for a moment to rest.
7. (a) Do you think
this chapel has a rightful place in an art gallery? Why or why not?
(b) What qualities do you think buildings need to be called good architecture?
(c) Excluding Parliament Hill, Chateau Laurier and the National Gallery of
Canada, name one building in
(d) If the artworks you were looking at
weren’t part of a national collection and within a purpose-built gallery
designed by an internationally recognized architect would you still view them
the same way? Who do you think makes the
decisions of what appears in National Gallery exhibits? Does their expertise and background matter in
your experience of the works?
Art and Society [POSSIBLE TITLE]
8. Visit the Indigenous Art Collection –
GROUND FLOOR.
(a) Why do you think this collection is separate
from the “Canadian Art” collection?
(b)View as least two works from the
following list by Norval (called “Copper
Thunderbird”) Morrisseau:
·
Moose with Ancestral
Figure: Heart & Fish (2002)
·
Observations of the Astral World (c. 1994)
·
Transmigration of the Human Soul into Another Existence (1972 - 1973 )
·
Untitled
(Child) (c. 1971)
·
Untitled
(Merman and Child) (c. 1958-1969)
·
Untitled
(Shaman Traveller to Other Worlds for Blessings) (c. 1990)
Study the two works closely and jot down some
of your reactions to these pieces, viewing them from different angles and from
near and afar.
(c) Upon your return home, visit CyberMuse, the National Gallery’s virtual collection
online, for the artist Norval Morrisseau
at http://cybermuse.gallery.ca/cybermuse/search/artist_e.jsp?iartistid=3864
View the two works that you studied online,
and zoom into the image as much as you can.
Do you have the same reactions to the works online as you did viewing
them in person? What’s missing? Is this important in viewing art? Can we have the same understanding of
something filtered through a “virtual experience” as exposed to actually
experience it in person?
(d)
All art – whether it be visual, music, literature, film, etc. – is affected by
the specific cultural climate in which it is produced (time, place, social
conventions, etc.) and is often created in reaction to “movements” or styles
that came before it. How important is it
to know these sorts of historical details to appreciate a work of art?
Go upstairs to
the contemporary art section
What is
‘Good’ Art?
9. As
you wander through the contemporary galleries on the second floor, select a
work of art that leaves you puzzled at best. Write down the title and the
artist. Research the piece at the library or on the internet, or speak to an
art expert to understand the artist and the intended message.
(a) Does this new information change your appreciation for the piece? Explain
by referring specifically to the artist’s intention and the specific work.
In your
contemporary gallery wanderings, choose two pieces of work you consider to be
‘good’ and two you consider bad art.
(b) Identify the pieces and state the criteria you consider to be important in
making ‘good’ contemporary art.
Proceed to the
second level gallery into the European and American sections of the permanent
collection. Many of the style, colour, subject,
brushstroke and materials patterns displayed in the Canadian galleries below
are replicated here. In these galleries are many important works of art by some
of the most famous artists in the world.
Experiencing Art
10. A work of art to
experience is the ‘infamous’ Voice
of Fire by Barnett Newman in C214. Stare at either blue edge of the
painting (where they meet the wall) until a bright white line starts to come
into view. This can take a minute or two. Then look at the red stripe in the
middle…
(a) Did you see the ‘voice of fire’?
(b) If you did not, does that make the work of art less great?
(c) Do you think
commercial value of a work of art affects how we view it? Barnett Newman’s Voice of Fire was bought by the Gallery
in 1989 for $1.8 million and created a lot of controversy as the National
Gallery is publicly funded by tax dollars.
Does your knowledge of its purchase price affect how you view it? If it had been bought for only $1000 from an
unknown artist would you have the same feelings about it?
Artistic Reputation
11. Browse through the
works of art from some of the galleries near ‘Voice of Fire’.
(a) Write down the name of the most famous artist (to you).
(b) Do you think the famous artist’s work is superior to the less famous
artists in the same room? If not, whose work is better?
(c) Why are some artists more famous than others?
(d) Do you think an artist’s fame and reputation is important in how people
judge art?
(e) Do you think it
matters if an artist is recognized in her or his lifetime? Do you think commercial success affects the
pieces that an artist would make? Does
this affect the art as “art” or does it become a “product”?
Final
question
12. If your portrait were
to be displayed in this
The most
important aspect of this summer assignment is not to turn everybody in the IB
program into art specialists but to ask that each student spend some time
sincerely exploring and considering art as an area of knowledge. Individual
opinions and answers are essential here. Each student’s reflections can be as
valid as the next.
P.S. The
assignment is due at the start of the third week of school. If you have
difficulty completing the assignment because you were out of town the whole
summer, then please see your TOK teacher on the first day of school.