Life, Literature, and the Pursuit of Happiness: September 2012

www.christopherwilley.com

Journal:

Based on your life experiences, opinions, and yesterday’s presentation, what do you see as the connections between visual artwork (ex: paintings) and written “art” (ex: poetry)? How is what painters and poets do similar?

I am constantly learning from my students! Here are some excerpts from the journals that students wrote today in response to the prompt above:

"Yesterday's presentation showed me that art is more than what you see when you first glance at it. It usually has a deeper meaning behind it. Poetry is the same way. With poems you often have to dig deep to find the true meaning behind it. So in that way, art and poetry are similar; you have to dig deep to find their true meanings."

"What painters and poets do similarly is present ideas and emotions to people. Those people can either agree or disagree with what the artist is trying to say. But the main concept of an artist, whether it's through a written or a visual work, is to evoke the right response out of the reader/viewer. To have the viewer be able to understand and resonate with the piece."

"What connects visual and written art, in my opinion, is us. The audience. Artists and writers put meaning behind all their works, but in the end it is ultimately up to us to define it."

"Art such as paintings and poetry is very different from non-fiction works such as historical documents and biographies. [...] They aren't limited to reality, nor do they need to stray from it. Art challenges us to use our brains not for its normal purposes, but to look/read and obtain information that isn't necessarily laid out in front of you. One can read a poem about soldiers marching and realize that it's actually about stars in the night sky. Even look at a painting of something simple, like a tree, and you may start to contemplate the meaning of life."

"With written art work, you use the details, context, clues, and tone to try to paint a picture in your mind, while with visual artwork you take in the colors, scenery, symbols, and details and try to turn what you physically see into words. It is like a circle in a way."

"Painters and poets are both artists. They require skill and specific perception in order to successfully convey their work. A painter uses brushes, paint, and an easel to create their vision, but in a way, poets use the same materials. The brushes are the pens and pencils, the paint is the words, poetic structure, and mechanics, and the easels are the paper. Both projects become beautiful pictures with vivid imagery and sensory contributions. You get a glimpse of what the poet is thinking through his words and a painter through his pictures."

"Poetry and paintings both have a way of making you see something in a different light. They both make you change your perspective on a certain scene, object, color, etc."

"Since being alive is already such a strange thing which is then made even more complex when others are added to the equation, art causes people to try to express the experiences of living in a non-living form. Whether it be pen and ink, film slides, or molded clay, people use non-living things to show their own version of the human experience to others. So art becomes as complicated as the most astounding genius, or as simple as the most plain, direct sentence we can say."

"I also think that painters can be poets or at least have the potential to be, and vice versa."

"Painters and poets both first start out with an idea of what will come out on their paper. Then they will put something down that is their own."

"I know both painters and poets both keep the viewer or reader in the back of their head when creating their art because they want to make sure they're going to understand it."

"Both require a great deal of creativity, passion, emotion, and artistic talent."

"Aren't we all artists? Some of us may not think we are, but I think that in some way we have all done something artistic even if we may not think so."

"Paintings, as with poems, seem very elusive to me--the inspiration or ability to grasp the meaning of either is very hit and miss: certain works can draw you in and inspire you, others are vague, abstract, and confusing. Some poems are very detailed, full of rich images-- and paintings can vary in their degree of detail, too. Lines of a poem can feed into each other, where one concept is tied so strongly to another one that the lines between them become nearly indistinguishable. This effect can also be achieved in paintings through soft lines that blur the edges between objects. Both painters and poets have a specific style and medium, both create art and are inspired, and both ask the reader or viewer to reach for the point they are trying to make."

Today our AP class enjoyed a lecture given by local art professor Christopher Willey. Chris talked to us about how to interpret art and gave us great examples of looking at a piece of artwork using "internal evidence" (what is literally happening in the piece) and then adding in "external evidence" (an artist's biography or an artist's explanation of his or her process, for example).

Three pieces that we looked at are displayed below:

We looked at each piece first without knowing anything about the artist or the work itself and discussed what we were seeing and what we thought the piece might mean. Then we were introduced to the artist, the title of the work, the time period when it was created, and some other background information. We then returned to the piece with the external evidence and discussed our new interpretations. We talked about how when "reading" a work of art we use many of the same skills that we use when we analyze a poem. We have to first start with what is in front of us, the details of the piece, the mood that is evoked (and in the case of the AP test, the prompt), and then go from there.

The three pieces above are:
-Ladder for Booker T. Washington by Martin Puryear (1996)
-Lick and Lather by Janine Antoni (1993) {The busts on the left are made of chocolate; those on the right are made of soap...it's worth reading more about this installation and also looking for the artist's explanation of her work on "Art 21" on PBS.)
-a photograph by Gregory Crewdson

Also, if you are interested in seeing the artwork of Christopher Willey, you can visit his website at: www.christopherwilley.com.