My name is Ally and this will be my third year at Humboldt State. I am an anthropology major and an art minor, so I thought this would be a perfect class to bring the two together. I was fortunate to grow up in Lake Tahoe, one of the most beautiful places in California. I miss the snow but its so beautiful here in Humboldt as well. My main focus with art is oil painting, I have been working mostly with oils for about three years. I have also done some ceramics and figure drawing.
What is art? I could dwell on this question forever; to me art is what you make it. It can be a beautiful painting or something that makes cringe. But saying art is what you make it is very vague, a pile of garbage could be art and yet most people would think its not. Anthropologically where do you draw the line? Art has been around since humans first started walking the planet. I believe that art was use back then and now for many uses, but one of the most important is to tell a story. Whether the story entails where you can find fertile soil to plant a plentiful crop or this spot marks where a story about a white man came to the new world to find gold but instead fell in love with native girl. (I hope most of you know what I’m talking about) For me, because I am an artist myself, I try to have the paintings I paint tell a story. Whether it is the same story as what I want it to describe or if you think of something totally different that is the beauty of art. Art is what you make it, you yourself are putting art in classifications and characteristic that makes art stand out from a pile of garbage so to speak. Most people think characteristics of art are something that is beautiful or something that stands out to them. These are just some characteristics of art, it can invoke emotion: whether is sad, happy, angry, surprised. But art has so many characteristics; being an artist myself I have come to realize that people look at art in many different ways not just beautiful. Something that invokes you and makes you focus on that piece and try to understand why it was made and what it was used for. Something that is unique, stands out of a crowd, makes people stop and think, something makes you question why would someone make this? That is art. Yet in some cultures that beautiful piece of art may just serve the simple purpose of a plate or a mug, but to someone who is not from that country or does not know that culture would think it is art. So really it depends who you are and what you think art is. Art is what you make it.
The one thing that I really hope to get out of this class is understanding art in more ways than just one. I hope to broaden my knowledge of art and in turn share that knowledge with others. I looking forward to seeing art in an anthropological view and getting more at out of art than it just being beautiful or nice looking.
What is art? I could dwell on this question forever; to me art is what you make it. It can be a beautiful painting or something that makes cringe. But saying art is what you make it is very vague, a pile of garbage could be art and yet most people would think its not. Anthropologically where do you draw the line? Art has been around since humans first started walking the planet. I believe that art was use back then and now for many uses, but one of the most important is to tell a story. Whether the story entails where you can find fertile soil to plant a plentiful crop or this spot marks where a story about a white man came to the new world to find gold but instead fell in love with native girl. (I hope most of you know what I’m talking about) For me, because I am an artist myself, I try to have the paintings I paint tell a story. Whether it is the same story as what I want it to describe or if you think of something totally different that is the beauty of art. Art is what you make it, you yourself are putting art in classifications and characteristic that makes art stand out from a pile of garbage so to speak. Most people think characteristics of art are something that is beautiful or something that stands out to them. These are just some characteristics of art, it can invoke emotion: whether is sad, happy, angry, surprised. But art has so many characteristics; being an artist myself I have come to realize that people look at art in many different ways not just beautiful. Something that invokes you and makes you focus on that piece and try to understand why it was made and what it was used for. Something that is unique, stands out of a crowd, makes people stop and think, something makes you question why would someone make this? That is art. Yet in some cultures that beautiful piece of art may just serve the simple purpose of a plate or a mug, but to someone who is not from that country or does not know that culture would think it is art. So really it depends who you are and what you think art is. Art is what you make it.
The one thing that I really hope to get out of this class is understanding art in more ways than just one. I hope to broaden my knowledge of art and in turn share that knowledge with others. I looking forward to seeing art in an anthropological view and getting more at out of art than it just being beautiful or nice looking.
These are some of my paintings and what I classify as art.
Costa Rica
